Memories of Fr. Charles Wright C.SsR

by Fr. Beverley Ahearn C.SsR

 

 

Transcribed from recording

 

Fr Charlie Wright who died in Bishop Stortford in 1947.

 

He was a chaplain during the First World War, and he found himself one day on a platform in front of a whole crowd of men but he was on the platform with the Church of England Chaplain, and this man the Church of England Chaplain was suggesting that they while they were all meeting there have some prayer in common. But Charlie Wright remembered his moralist books and in those days knew he was forbidden to pray in common with members of other Christian churches and in particular he was not allowed to say the Lord’s prayer, and he was trying to get out of praying with this man when a loud voice amongst the people, the soldiers said “I agree with Comrade Wright, what’s the point of prayer”.

 

Part 2

 

 

 

Transcribed from recording

 

 

To go back to Charlie Wright, a story that was told about him, you have to remember that he lived in the days when asking permission was all important, and who you had to ask permission, of who had the power to grant permissions. But the story goes that one day in the middle of dinner he looked around and noticed that the Rector was missing, the minister who was he second in charge was missing and that he as senior member by profession was in charge, and he rang the bell and he said “I am the senior in profession, and as the senior in profession I have the power to grant myself a glass of wine during the meal but unfortunately I cannot give permission for the rest of you to have it. So brother would you please me one glass of wine.” How true this is one never knows but it’s one of the stories handed on about Charlie in days gone by.

 

Memories of Fr. Philip Wrangham C.Ss.R

by Fr. Beverley Ahearn C.SsR

 

 

Transcribed from recording

 

Philip Wrangham, was ordained during the war, 1944 and he began to give missions very soon after he finished his studies at Hawkstone.

 

He quickly built up a reputation as a very good mission preacher. He was thoughtful, prepared well and he had a very lively delivery that would interest the people.

 

Then unfortunately at the age of only 36 underwent an operation in Cheam hospital and he suffered from a blood clot after the operation, and died at that age of 36.

 

He was missed by very many, and it was a great shock to the whole province.

Memories of Fr. Augustine Teasdale C.Ss.R

by Fr. Beverley Ahearn C.SsR

 

 

Transcription of recording.

 

Fr. Augustine Teasdale or Gus Teasdale who died in 1993 in Bishop Stortford.

 

Gus during his life spent some time on missions in Scotland and sometimes in England. Did work on various parishes in England and during the war was a chaplain to the forces.

 

He had one quality, that quite unconnected with his apostolic work made him stand out, and that was his ability for writing, and I mean by writing “calligraphy”. He always kept two fountain pens one for writing and filling in cheques when he was a bursar doing the accounts and the other which he used simply and solely for his signature, and that’s the reason why if you look at Bishop Eton outside the community oratory and you see the list of dead you may be surprised to see that from the beginning up to about 1983 or 1984 they’re all in one hand, and after that of course they are in various hands depending on who made the entry. Well that was because I asked Fr Teasdale when he was in Bishop Stortford would he copy and make new copies of the necrologium because the house at Bishop Eton at that time was being redone.

 

He copied the whole lot from the beginning up till about ‘83/’84 and was only too pleased to do it, and at the same time, I only learned later, he was actually teaching calligraphy to parishioners at Bishop Stortford. That was his big contribution to the redevelopment of Bishop Eton in the 1980s.

Memories of Brother Sebastian Swift C.Ss.R

by Fr. Beverley Ahearn C.SsR

 

 

Transcription of recording.

 

Brother Sebastian Swift who died in Hawkstone in 1984.

 

Brother Sebastian came from a farming family in Lancashire. He joined us in the mid ‘20s professed in 1925 and about a year later oh, he was sent to Bishop Eton and he was in the community of Bishop Eton, and about a year later make a little bit more he was asked to go on supply to Hawkstone which we had recently acquired just to help sort out the garden and he was expected to be there for a couple of months two or three months and then return to Bishop Eton. In practise that temporary appointment lasted until his death in 1984. It must be an all-time record for the congregation throughout the world for a temporary appointment.

He spent all those years looking after not just the garden but the farm at Hawkstone. In those early days he had used horses to plough, no tractors in those days. He kept cattle, he kept pigs, and he kept hens as well as growing food for the community and food/nourishment for the animals he kept.

 

Part 2

 

 

Transcription of recording.

 

Brother Sebastian used to keep an eye on all the public clocks in Hawkstone. The main clock was in the church steeple which showed the time and also struck the hour. There were clocks in different places throughout the house which he used to wind and he was responsible for ensuring they all showed the correct time.

 

To go back to the farm – he kept chickens as I said and we also had a large supply of fresh eggs at Hawkstone, so much so that Sebastian would keep the hens laying till they had laid their last possible egg, and only then would he wring their necks and give them to the cook to cook for the community. I remember one of the cooks Brother Louis telling me that they were always so old and full of muscle, sinews that he used to have to boil them for hours before putting them in the oven to try and get some colour to them before serving them in the refectory.

 

Memories of Fr. James Stack C.Ss.R

by Fr. Beverley Ahearn C.Ss.R

 

 

Transcribed from recording.

 

 

Fr. Jimmy Stack who died in Bishop Stortford in 1958.

 

I heard him preach a mission sermon in the mid-1940s in Liverpool and he certainly risked censure then in the way in which he would quote scripture.

 

I remember particularly the text “If any man should follow me “…

 

And he would repeat it as “ If any man or woman would follow me… let him or her take up his cross or her cross daily and follow me.”

 

He risked censorship because one was supposed to quote scripture exactly word for word, verbatim, but he wasn’t afraid to change it to make it more inclusive.

 

A man, very much ahead of his time.

 

 

 

 

 

Memories of Brother Patrick Spillane C.Ss.R

by Fr. Beverley Ahearn C.SsR

 

 

Transcribed from recording

 

Who died in Plymouth in 1967.

 

Probably Patrick is best known for the time that he said to the Provincial, oh and by the way Patrick was an Irishman who had joined the English province, and on this occasion he said to the Provincial may I have permission to cross the water and visit my sister and the Provincial said yes it’s a long time since you have seen her, so go for a short holiday and that was that. But the day before Patrick was due to go the Rector queried him about dates and where he was going and the Rector rang up the Provincial and said do you realise that Brother Patrick is going to America to visit his sister and not to Ireland. The Provincial to give him his due Fr Wilf Hughes said let him go but ask him to get in touch with me on his return. So Patrick had a holiday probably the first member of our province ever to have a short holiday in the United States.

Memories of Fr. Gilbert Haydock Smith C.Ss.R

by Fr. Beverley Ahearn C.Ss.R

 

 

Transcription of recording.

 

Fr. Gilbert Haydock Smith who died in Hawkstone in 1972.

 

The Haydock family was an old Catholic family of Lancashire who retained the faith right through the penal times to the present day, and Gilbert was part of that family and obviously very proud of it as we shall see in a minute he had one sister, as I know an unmarried sister because I think the family died out with him. There were no other brothers or direct descendants.

 

Gilbert Haydock Smith was professed as a Redemptorist in 1915 which was two years before the code of canon law the 1917 code of canon law was published. And he maintained throughout his life that he was bound by not the new canon law, but by canon law as it was understood in 1915.

 

This led to a peculiarity in his lifestyle.  He claimed that he was using a motor bike that was his sisters but that she didn’t want it for her own personal use at any given time, so she lent it to him and would also because it was her bike be prepared to pay for the fuel to run it and for the repairs that were necessary for it.

As he grew older and no longer liked the idea of riding a motorbike, his sister acquired a car, and again she didn’t drive so she lent it to him, and he had this car for many years in his Redemptorist life, claiming that under the old canon law it was perfectly Ok for him to use exactly what his sister had lent him.

 

It led to some difficulties with other communities, I remember when I was in Birmingham he used to visit us occasionally, from Hawkstone, but when he came he managed to have an almost empty tank and he would go across to the local garage, fill the car up, and fill two or three 2 gallon cans which he carried in the boot and charge it all to the monastery account and then drive off back to Hawkstone. And so after a time the Rector had to cancel the account we had in the local garage and we paid in cash every time we went.

 

While he was at Hawkstone he sometimes took the students to Shrewsbury, to help out at celebration in the cathedral or something like that. But on one occasion while he was driving to Shrewsbury with students in the car he skidded and he went through a hedge in a field, right through destroying the hedge at that point, but not harming the car so much that it was stopped.

 

The car continued to run and he drove along the field along by the hedge until he came to a gate. He asked a student to get out then and open the gate, which the student did, the student tried to get back into the car and Gilbert told him off immediately. He said “Stay were you are and close the gate when I get through, remember he said you are living in the country now and you never go through a gate and leave it open”.  The student simply looked back at the wide gaping hole in the hedge, but Gilbert said nothing

 

Memories of Fr. John Slattery C.Ss.R

by Fr. Beverley Ahearn C.SsR

 

 

Transcribed from recording

 

Fr. John Slattery who died in Clapham in 1956.

 

He wore the biggest biretta that any of us had ever seen.

 

He was a big man, a big head and a great mop of thick white hair on top of this was a tremendous biretta and he wore it on every possible occasion.

 

Whether he wore it in bed or not, we don’t know.

 

But one day he came into dinner, and he took his biretta off whilst the Gospel was being read, then he put the biretta back on as the reader went on to read the appointed book.

 

And he was beginning his soup, the reader came out with the name Jesus, so he dropped his soup spoon raised his biretta, put it back on, picked up his soup spoon and had it.

 

The same happened again very quickly.

 

This was too much for the reader.

 

So the reader started making up the text after that and every time that he was going to lift his soup spoon he mentioned the name Jesus until eventually the reader won… John Slattery took his biretta off and flung it on the floor behind him and got on with his dinner.

 

Part 2

 

 

 

Transcribed from recording

 

 

 

Another story about Fr. Flattery, Fr. John Slattery rather, told by Fr. John Howard who was giving a mission in Ireland in the little town / village in which Fr. Slattery had been born.

 

And he met his brother there …a brother who was a little bit mentally retarded, not very much, but just sufficient to stand out slightly.

 

And in talking to him, John Howard said “Oh…Your brother is my Rector”.

 

And this man looked at Fr. Howard and said: “Rector?…he told me he was Lord High Abbot  but I know he thinks he’s God Almighty.”

 

Memories of Fr. Edward Ring C.Ss.R

by Fr. Beverley Ahearn C.SsR

 

 

Transcription of recording.

 

Fr. Ted Ring, Edward Ring usually known as Ted Ring – Ted Ring.

 

He was moved from being Rector of Hawkstone to become Rector of Bishop Eton in 1945 and later in the year towards the end of the year he went to Birmingham to make a retreat. Fr. Hughes was the Rector there and when he got there he said he wasn’t feeling very well. So they talked a bit and Fr. Hughes took him and said you might was well go to bed early. So when he was undressed and in bed, Fr. Hughes went in and said would you like something I could bring you up a cup, oh he said I’d love to have a cup of tea a warm cup of tea that’s all I want, nothing to eat, I don’t feel well.  So he said well you just wait there and I’ll get it, and Ted Ring said to Wilf Ok I’ll wait here and pray for a happy death, and Fr. Wilf Hughes came back 10 minutes later with a cup of tea, Ted Ring was dead in bed – God rest him.

Memories of Fr. William Raymers C.Ss.R

by Fr. Beverley Ahearn C.Ss.R

 

 

Transcription of recording.

 

Fr. William Raymers who died in Bishop Stortford in 1966.

 

While he was preparing for the priesthood, he lost a couple of fingers on one hand, I’ve forgotten which hand it was right or left. He lost a couple of fingers so that when it came to ordination the Bishop insisted on inspecting him before he would allow him to be ordained. And when you realise he could use both thumbs and index fingers to hold the Host properly in two hands he ordained him. But quite shortly after ordination he lost the remaining fingers on that hand but having been ordained before that second operation occurred, he was given permission to say Mass, or rather to continue to say Mass even though he could no longer hold the Host in the approved style, and he lived and worked as a Redemptorist for a long life after that, always coping with that particular injury.