Fr Brendan McConvery's CSsR Book Launch Address...

Book Launch, Clapham 3 June, 2016

There has been a good deal of discussion in recent weeks in both the national and religious press about the results of a Survey of Religious Attitudes taken in 2014 and published recently. Let me quote just three figures that might have some relevance to our meeting this evening. 

1. Almost 50% of the populations of Great Britain describe themselves as having ‘no religion.’ 
2. London is one of the most Catholic parts of the country with almost fifteen percent of the inhabitants of inner London describing themselves as Catholic. 
3. While Catholics tend to hold on to their members better than most Christian Churches, they tend to have a lower conversion rate. 

That picture of the Catholic Church in London is very different from the days in which St Mary’s Church was founded. The foundation stone was laid in 1849 and the church opened two years later. At that time, there were just 42 churches and chapels in the whole London area, served by 84 priests. The blessing of the new church had to be performed quietly at 5.30 am in order not to attract anti-Catholic  demonstrators. Five hours later , the first Mass was celebrated and Cardinal Wiseman was met by two competing crowds -  one protesting at “papal aggression” in England and a smaller crowd, made up of ‘faithful Irish people who greeted his eminence with loud and enthusiastic cheers” (Domestic Chronicles, St Mary’s ). 

As well as being a flourishing parish, St Mary’s was also a popular centre to which converts seeking to join the Catholic Church came for instruction and assistance. Over 2,000 people are listed in Clapham as having entered into full communion with the Church during the years 1853 to 1908, or on an average of 40 per year (that does not include those who may have taken instructions in Clapham and who were received elsewhere). Some of the early members of the Clapham Redemptorist Community were themselves converts, even what today would be described as  ‘convert clergymen.’ The Chronicle for 1857, for example, describes the procession with the Blessed Sacrament during the Good Friday liturgy as a ‘remarkable coincidence” as the Blessed Sacrament was borne by a ‘converted minister’ (Fr Coffin, the Rector), the canopy by four other converts who had become Redemptorists, the sermon was preached by yet another convert (Fr Bridgett) while the organist and his assistant were both converts!  

It has been a great privilege for me, and a sheer delight, to write this short book about this wonderful church of Our Lady of Victories. 

The story of a church is the story of its ‘living stones’ – the human beings, the men, women and children who were associated with it  -from the handful of well-to-do Catholics, to the Irish emigrants fleeing the Great Famine who called a priest to the Wandsworth Workhouse to baptise their sickly children, to the Italian, Eastern European, Caribbean African, and Asian members of today’s parish. Someone told me  that the parish today is made up of people who speak 40 different languages. That diversity of the Catholic Church in Britain is also highlighted in that survey I mentioned at the beginning of this talk and it is a sign of the life of this parish.

There are some people who should be singled out for mention in even a brief history of St Mary’s. First and foremost is the man who made the church possible. The Redemptorists who came to Clapham were poor men with very little money, except for one. His name was Fr Edward Douglas, another convert (and for the consolation of Fr Richard, a fellow Scot). Young Mr Douglas ‘s decision to join the Church of Rome during a holiday in that city shocked his poor mother, who promptly dispatched a clergyman friend to win him back but to no avail. Edward soon had himself ordained priest and then entered the Redemptorists in 1849, the first Redemptorist from these Islands. The following year he came to the recently founded community at Clapham. Edward was, in today’s language, a ‘multi-millionaire.’ He covered the cost of building St Mary’s, then a few years later, St Alfonso in Rome, the home of the icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Succour, another house in Italy at Cortona, and finally the Redemptorist church and monastery at Perth in Scotland, the first monastery in Scotland since the Reformation. (It is said that Queen Victoria on her way to Balmoral noticed from the Royal train a new building on Kinnoul Hill: she asked what it was and the courtier, unwilling to say a Roman Catholic Monastery, replied simply: “A lunatic asylum,  ma’am.” Fr Douglas’s breach with his mother appears to have been healed since she donated the lovely statue of Our Lady that today stands over the baptismal font at the entrance to the sanctuary. 

The second person I want to remember is John Francis Bentley. Another convert, he was a resident of the parish and architect of the transept, the monastery and the lady chapel. His children were baptised in the font designed by the original architect, William Wardell, and he refused to replace it when he was doing his extension to the church. Bentley would later become famous as the architect of Westminster Cathedral. However, for me, and I think also for him and his family, the jewel of his work is the lady chapel of St Mary’s. It is a gem, a statement of a theology of Our Blessed Lady in stone, paint, wood and metal. The founding was provided by a parishioner, Mrs Jane Louis, in memory of her husband and I think it is their copy of the icon of Our Lady that forms the centre-piece of the shrine. Bentley was a man of profound faith and devotion and it is extraordinary how he works into his design the words of some of the great Marian hymns and prayers, notably the Salve Regina and other Latin texts from the Divine Office. 

The list could go on and on but I want to single out one as an example of the kind of loyalty St Mary’s inspires. A young parishioner a little more than 20, George Malcolm, had just gained his BMus at Oxford when he was offered the post of organist and choir master. Then the war broke out and young George was called up. He joined the RAF and was put in charge of the dance band.  That meant he had to stay in London most of the time. It also meant that he could arrange his leave to suit his time with the choir in Clapham, especially during Holy Week and Christmas. He went on to become master of music at Westminster Cathedral and an expert on early music, especially the music of the harpsichord. 

One of the pleasures of writing the book was discovering little gems of history. For example the Stations of the Cross were the gift of ex-King Umberto of Italy. There are riddles I have been unable to solve and so leave them for someone else. There are two lovely heads of children supporting the arch over the door to the sacristy. Who are they? The children of John F Bentley who were baptised her? There are two other carved heads, this time on the arch into the lady chapel. Who are they? Mr and Mrs Louis the donors of the chapel? I do not know, but I suspect they might well be.  

Finally, I must express thanks to so many people. It is probably inevitable that I shall omit someone, so I ask pardon in advance. 

• Fr Dominic the former Parish Priest arrived into my office in Dublin well over a year ago and handed me three books and said “We want you to write a guide to Clapham.” My instinct was to say no as I did not know it well enough. The invitation was renewed by Fr Richard when he became Parish Priest and he would not take no for an answer.
• I spent most of July last  year doing the research in the archives and just wandering around, looking at the church and letting it grow on me. The community prodded, suggested, encouraged and entertained me during those weeks. Fr  Michael McGreevy I discovered was also an excellent proof reader and picked up all sorts of typos and inaccuracies. Frs Charles Corrigan, Bev Ahearn, Bro Thomas and Fr George Webster  who were here during those days especially, proved to be the living wells of the tradition of Clapham and I drew much from their memories. Fr Jack Clancy as librarian and archivist, initiated me into the mysteries of the archives and also put many useful books in my direction. 
• A picture is worth a thousand words and in a guidebook, its value is incalculable. We were lucky but to have a wonderful collection of photographs taken by Jess Esposito who most generously made them available for this guide. Not only has she recorded every aspect of the church, but she has captured that atmosphere of prayer and recollection that is such a characteristic of St Mary’s Clapham. It is one of those places  that always reminds me of the words of the poet TS Eliot:   “You are not here to verify,
  Instruct yourself, or inform curiosity
  Or carry report. You are here to kneel
  Where prayer has been valid. And prayer is more
  Than an order of words, the conscious occupation
  Of the praying mind, or the sound of the voice praying.
  And what the dead had no speech for, when living,
  They can tell you, being dead.” 

This is indeed a place where for more than a hundred and fifty years, ‘prayer has been valid.’ 

• The wonderful design and arrangement of the book owes nothing to me. It is the work of Anneke Calis of  Tanika Design Dublin, and she completed the work just before the birth of her daughter.
• Finally, thanks to the personnel of Redemptorist Publications who verified the final proofs, edited and organised the printing of this book that is I think you will agree something in which the whole parish community of Clapham might take pride and see something of itself represented there. Let us celebrate! 

Brendan McConvery CSsR