RELICS OF CATHOLIC ENGLAND

New Zealand Tablet, 28 April 1921, Page 18

RELICS OF CATHOLIC ENGLAND

Remarkable interest has been shown recently in nonCatholic circles in some of the great things of the Catholic • past of Britain. Monuments to the piety and religious activity ,of Catholic times have, of late received marked attention on the part of certain non-Catholic people. ‘ - ’ ’ Not‘only Anglicans but Nonconformists,'also are showing public interest in ancient Catholic, history. The Hevitree Congregational Young People’s Society of Exeter recently heard a talk on the Priory of St’. Nicholas. This was an ancient Benedictine monastery, parts of which have been restored by the Exeter Municipal Corporation. ; ‘ Con- , , siderable surprise -was shown by some members of the aud- i ience at the ancient and historic nature of the priory, and J great interest in the subject was manifested. The lecturer, * was a Protestant, but he treated the subject : very 1 sympathetically, noting the priory’s many changes under various priors, until, under Henry VIII., it was demolished, and the stones were sold to citizens. Only a part of the establishment was left standing, and this was converted into tenements. Its beauty w-as hidden for some 250 years, after which’it was taken in hand by the city authorities, and restored to its present attractive condition. A lecture on some Yorkshire abbeys was recently/ given before members of the Exeter/branch of the Historical Association. 1 It was presided over by an Anglican Prebendary.' The 1 lecturer was an Anglican. He spoke of two great Benedictine houses dedicated to St. Mary at York and Whitby. He pointed out that Yorkshire w-as chiefly know-n as the homo of the Cistercians. An interesting account of old Bristol Bridge, with its quaint wooden houses and chapel, built on an arch, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, was recently given in a lecture on mediaeveal Bristol.