Reviving The Ardour Of St. Felix In last week's issue of the Catholic Herald an account was given of the annual pilgrimage to Dunwich in honour of St. Felix. Since then details have come to hand of the cinilci and St. Edmund, that excellent work which aims at reviving the religious ardour spread throughout East Anglia by St. Felix.
The Rev. St. Leger Mason, of Southwold, Suffolk, a founder of the Guild, has written an excellent pamphlet on the aims of the Guild from which we quote the following: The name of East Anglia. a trinity of all the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cam. bridgeshire, all part of the seven-countied diocese of Northampton, conjures up dreams of romance in the ancient Church history of England. It was one of the first to receive the Faith, and one of the last to lose it. It contained more churches than any other part of England, churches unrivalled in size and in architectural beauty. Suffolk alone from its church-covered acres was known as " Holy Suffolk."
East Anglia was the bishopric of St. Felix, the holy Benedictine monk, who at the invitation of King Sigebert mug in If year 630 from Burgundy to he the Apostle of his kingdom and its first bishop. He fixed his see at Duuwich, in Suffolk, five miles south of Southwold. and the see later was transferred to Norwich, where stands the glorious Norman cathedral of the Bene dictines. Felix was consecrates! lily 1,1
Honoring, Archbishop of Canterbury, and
the fifth successor of St. Augustine.
The Forgotten Saints Another great saint of East Anglia was its martyred king, St. Edmund. Surrounded by the pagan Danes, Inguar and Ubba, he [KM to save Ins life On WO' enndltioti of 'renouncing his faith in Christ, and was shot to death by arrows, near Eye., on November 20, 870. His body was later laid in a wonderful shrine at the splendid abbey of Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk. These two glorious saints were, until the ficformation, thc pridc of East Anglia, but since that unhappy cvent their memory But now that the ancient Faith has come back to the old diocese of St. Felix and the kingdom of St. Edmund, creeping hack slowly but surely, like the sea-tides on its
coast, it is felt that the patronage of East
Anglia's two great saints ought to become again an inspiration and a spiritual means of bringing back their " patrimonium" to thc tuft for which thcy livcd and died. Therefore a new Ciuild, called the Guild of St. Felix and St. Edmund. has been instituted to honour these two great saints, to secure their powerful aid for the reconversion of this isolated part of England, to arouse the interest and assistance of all who care for the return of England to its Faith of old; to cheer and encourage those who have to live and labour in most depressing surroundings, as far as the Catholic revival is concerned.
Need for Action For a population of over 1,000,000 souls in the three counties of East Anglia, whose area is over 2,800,000 acres, there are only 38 nlgen with redden? nrieft11 With a poor proportion of Catholics, few of whom are blessed with great means. As most of the three counties are agricultural land, there are few big towns, and so there arc vast districts without a single known Catholic family, and districts where the very name and meaning of the word Catholic are unicnown, or only Limn as a traditional term for hatred or suspicion. Add to this a poor railway service and want of inter-communication, a mentality which is slow and diffident of change, a tone of religious thought which is very Evangelical and absolutely permeated with all Magi Aitipid prejudices and calum nies against the Faith, and one can NC the need of helping the. pioneers of the Faith in this spiritual desert. So the new Guild of East Anglia's saints is instituted to make a united effort for all the faithful, to arouse enthusiasm for a gloriout natt and no lets glorious future: to supply Catholic literature for the masses,
to effect pilgrimages of Catholics to Dun
wich, the old see of St. Felix, and to Bury St. Edmunds, the wasted shrine of St. Edmund; perhaps, if funds, allow, to work Motor Missions in the most isolated parts.
The Guild annealt for molor_carg and motor-chapels for the use of priests working in East Anglia. It aims at securing Catholic literature for Catholics and nonCatholics and at forming an East Anglian library of reference, and a defence branch of apologetics.