Page 8, 19th January 1951

19th January 1951

Page 8

Page 8, 19th January 1951 — HOW IT ALL
Close

Report an error

Noticed an error on this page?
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it.

Tags

Locations: Rome, Boston, New York, Garrison

Share


Related articles

The Late Abbe Couturier

Page 2 from 26th June 1953

The Church Unity Octave Sir, May I Correct An Error

Page 2 from 4th February 1949

Utopian Vision For Canterbury

Page 5 from 9th February 1973

Beginning Of The Unity Octave

Page 2 from 31st January 1947

Bmws Ready To1 Resign For Unity's Sake

Page 2 from 18th January 1952

HOW IT ALL

BEGAN
BY PETER F ANSON The Church Unity Octave was the outcome of correspondence between the Rev. Spencer Jones and Fr. Paul James Francis, a clergyman of the "Protestant Episcopal Church in the U.S.A."
Towards the end of 1907, when replying to a letter recommending the Feast of SS. Peter and Paul as a suitable occasion for public sermons on the Primacy of the See of Rome, Fr. Paul James Francis expressed his conviction that it would he of greater value to institute an Octave of Prayer as a means of furthering the return of all separated Christians to the Unity of the Apostolic See.
Thus in January, 1908, the Church Unity Octave came into being. Invitations to keep the Octave were sent out, not only to Episcopalian and Anglican clergy, but also to Catholic Bishops, Priests and laymen. '
One of the first to reply to the invitation was Cardinal O'Connell, of Boston.
Ten years earlier, in 1898, the Rev. Joseph Newton Wattson, as Fr. Paul James Francis was then known, and Sister Lurana White, a member of a small Episcopalian religious community, resolved to establish "The Society of the Atonement " — two communities of men and women whose Rule would be based on that of St. Francis, with special stress on absolute poverty.
In 1899 the Friars and the Sisters began community-life at Graymoor, Garrison, New York.
Banned
The following year Fr. Paul James Francis began to proclaim openly the de jure divines jurisdiction of the Holy See, and to teach that every baptized Christian in the world owes allegiance and obedience to the Pope of Rome as the Sovereign Pontiff and true Vicar of Christ.
He was banned from pulpits, but the medium of the press was still open for the propagation of this message, and on February, 1903, he published the first number of The Lamp.
The Editor explained to his readers that this lamp had been " lighted as a witness to the Old Faith as taught by the English Church before a wicked king severed her from the Centre of Unity." He went on to say : "We believe that not only does our Blessed Lord wish us to pray, but also to work for Unity; and instead of magnifying differences between ourselves and Rome, we ought to minimise them, and thus prepare the way for that peace which via all long for, as Christians."
For six years The Lamp was kept alight solely through self-denial and tremendous faith on the part of the Society of the Atonement.
The Sisters, two at a time, trudged the streets of New York. twice each week, year after year, begging alms which kept The Lamp burning.
The little they managed to collect was hardly enough to pay the printer's bills.
Nevertheless, subscriptions came from overseas, and the magazine had a small circle of readers in England. Among them was the Rev. Spencer Jones, Rector of Moreton-in-the Marsh.. Co-jointly with him Fr. Paul James Francis wrote The Prince of the Apostles. a hook which proved fairly conclusively the Primacy of St. Peter. The year after the publication of the first number of 7'he Lamp, the Society of the Atonement began to forward Peter's Pence to Rome; the trifling sums sent always being courteously acknowledged by Cardinal Merry del Val.
Submission
Then followed the exchange of letters between Fr. Paul Francis and the Rev. Spencer Jones, out of which came the idea of the Church Unity Octave.
Within two years of the first observance of the Octave, as if in response to the prayers inaugurated at Graymoor, the Society of the Atonement—Friars, Sisters and Tertiaries —made its corporate submission to the Holy See of Rome.
It was allowed to continue its existence as part of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis. and since then its growth and expansion has been almost phenomenal. In December, 1909, the Octave received the sanction and blessing of Pius X. Seven years later Benedict XV extended its observance to the Universal Church, and enriched it with Indulgences.
• Today there are very few Catholic dioceses in the world where it is not observed, and it is kept by more and more Anglicans every year, who yearn for reunion with Rome, yet for the moment. feel unable to make an individual submission to the Holy See.




blog comments powered by Disqus