FOURTH CENTENARY

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 13013, 3 December 1942, Page 3

FOURTH CENTENARY

DIOCESE OF OXFORD

HISTORIC CELEBRATION

The organ reverberates round

lofty arches, voices are raised in a full and glorious Te Deum, the sun streams in bright lanes of light across grey pillars and carved stalls onto the crowded congregation. It is the fourth centenary of the Diocese of Oxford, and men and women of three counties are giving thanks to God. In Christ Church, Cathedral Church of the Diocese, are gathered representatives of her two Universities —Oxford and Reading—and of the 625 parishes, 850 churches and the various religious orders that are found in the largest diocese in the Church of England. In his Charge, ''the Bishop has said what is in the minds of all of us as we are assembled in that gracious church amid the colour and richness of academic and ecclesiastical tradition —“our heritage is menaced to-day as never before. Its visible beauty is threatened —who can say what wounds enemy attack or invasion may not inflict upon it before this dreadful war is ended.” But, he adds, “still greater and graver is the threat to our invisible heritance —that complex Christian culture which I have described as the unceasing quest of man’s spirit for the good life . . .” Actually it is. not four hundred, but thirteen hundred years, since that “complex Christian culture” first took root in Oxfordshire. About the year 63 5, St. Birinus, “adventuring unarmed and undefended among the cruel tribes of Wessex” converted

■the heathen king and baptised him in the river Thame, near the place where the ancient Abbey of Dorchester stands today. That was the beginning of Oxford’s church life. Birinas was given Dorchester as his episcopal See, and became the first Bishop. For over four hundred years, Oxford formed part of the diocese of Dorchester, which became so extensive that by the time of the Norman Conquest, it included the whole of

the Midlands. William the Conqueror was a keen churchman, and, realising the disadvantages of a Bishop with a large See and an inconveniently situated centre, approved the removal of Bishop Remigius from Dorchester to Lincoln. For the next 469 years, therefore, Oxford formed part of the diocese of Lincoln. For the next 469 years, therefore, Oxford formed part of the diocese of Lincoln. Medieval Bishops of Lincoln had many associations with Oxford, and the infant university owed much to their interest.

The next big change came in 1542. Henry VIII had dissolved the monasteries, and out of the wealth he had obtained in the process, he endowed five new bishoprics. Oxford was one of the five, and Robert King, the last Abbot of Osney, became Oxford’s first bishop. At first, the new diocese consisted of Oxfordshire only, but during the past hundred years Berkshire and Buckinghamshire have been added. Why, in the midst of world war, on the edge of world catistrophe, does the Oxford Diocese pause to commemorate its birthday? Because it is an opportunity of thanksgiving for blessings, of taking example and courage from the past, and of charging the spirit to face the future as fearlessly. The Bishop spoke of “our joyful retrospect.” But, he said, “it would be folly to spend our time in retrospect alone. The Christian learns from the past, but he does not live in it. The present and the future are his concern, and it is on

them that we must focus our deepest thoughts to-day.” The Diocese of Oxford has contributed widely to the nation’s strength in the past. It will not fail in the future.