#Downsideabbeyarchivesandlibrary

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Dom Roger Hudleston's Ghost Stories

Many Downside monks have been authors over the years, and a number of well received books have been penned on this site. Some of these were created by Dom Roger Hudleston, a collection of ghost stories which were written not always as fiction. One of our intrepid volunteers, Alice, has been looking into the books and the stories behind them.

'Full of piety as the stories are, their eschatology is never narrow, and the last beautifully illustrates the old priest's belief that 'an ultimate unity does exist'. Times Literary Supplement, 24th February 1924. 'There is much charm, much learning, much acute reasoning, much wise consideration [in the two books]' The Church Times, 29th March 1924.

These are just some of the reviews for Mystic Voices by Roger Pater, which were found in the Downside Archives and after a little detective work, led us to the actual book on the library shelves. This discovery is made more interesting by the fact that 'Roger Pater' is actually the pen name of Roger Hudleston, (1874-1936), monk of Downside, translated from the Latin for 'Father Roger'.

It appears that they were written in 1913 whilst Hudleston recovered from an operation for appendicitis, and some of them being originally published in The Catholic World, the rest 'sidetracked by the outbreak of hostilities and the loss of interest in anything else' (RH Letter to Mrs Brookfield, 23rd Feb 1925). They proved to be so popular, that they were published by Burns, Oates and Washbourne Ltd in December 1923. This became 'Mystic Voices' and told the 'experiences of the Rev. Phillip Rivers Pater'. Due to their success, a second volume was penned, detailing the life story of the above Rev. Phillip, known as 'Cousin Phillip'.

What is even more interesting is, that in replies to a flurry of fan mail from various sources, Roger Hudleston admits that the stories are not entirely fictitious. Of the collection of short stories, The Warnings and The Persecution Chalice are the real experiences of Hudleston. Chapters 3&5 are the experiences of others, chapters 9&11 are added to, but essentially true and chapter 13 is set in a real place. 'My Cousin Phillip' contains 'a considerable proportion of autobiography interested into the life of the old priest... He is what I should aspire to be, certainly not what I am'. (RH to Mr Pim, 4th Dec 1924).

The chapter, Persecution Chalice is based on a real experience of Dom Roger. Whilst saying Mass here at Downside, Dom Roger picked up the chalice which was brought to England during the French Revolution, and he could hear the sounds of rioting men outside. Gunfire and shouting were plainly audible to him as he held the chalice. Upon placing it down, the sounds stopped.

The readership of these stories was also incredibly interesting. Amongst its following, which included nuns, priests and other members of the religious community was Princess Blucher, a aristocrat who would become known for her war memoirs. She was so impressed with the stories, that she wrote to Hudleston in June 1935, to ask if she could borrow a passage for her own work. After being persuaded to amend her original plan of simply copying his work in order to acknowledge its source, it is unknown if it was eventually published as Burns Oates and Washbourne Ltd never seem to have received any notice of its formal use. As well as being referenced in other works, there are also letters from 1933 concerning German translations of the novels, although it is unclear if this project was ever fully realised.

The stories are an interesting meditation on spirituality, with the supernatural events explained through 'a definite belief in the Divine' (The Catholic Times, 22nd November 1924). Whilst The Catholic Times are sceptical about the relationship of the supernatural and the Catholic faith, it is this framework of Catholic belief that makes the stories so interesting.

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Downside OTC

The Downside OTC or Officer Training Corps was formed here in 1909 and many of the Old Gregorians who served during the Great War had been involved in this during their time at Downside.

The OTC was a large part of the life at Downside, and still is today under its new guise of the CCF. In 1912 the War Office gave the Downside OTC permission to open a firing range with service ammunition at the lower end of the third cricket field. In 1919, when the boys returned for school they were surprised to find a captured German artillery piece from the Great War mounted in the quad.

When the Prince of Wales visited Downside in 1923, the OTC formed a guard of honour for him as he laid a wreath at the War Memorial. In the photographic archives here we have two wonderful albums of the OTC marching through London in the 1930s.

We have recently been donated by a son of old Gregorian Cyril Wettern some of his old OTC badges, for which we are extremely grateful. Digging into Mr Wettern's old school file we found pictures of his OTC unit from the 1930's which was a fitting reminder of how important the organization has been in Downside's history.

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St. Oliver Plunkett's Pectoral Cross?

St Oliver Plunkett's mortal remains lie in his shrine in the Abbey Church here at Downside. St Oliver was martyred in 1681 at Tyburn, and was the last Catholic to be so executed for his faith in England. 

Today we were lucky enough to be visited by Dr. Michael Skivington who brought with him what is reputed to be the pectoral cross of St Oliver Plunkett. The cross has been passed down through his family as the relic of this martyr. Authenticated as being from the 17th century, it is very possible this relic belonged to St Oliver, however no provenance exists to be able to verify this one hundred percent.

The cross was taken to the shrine of St Oliver and reunited with its owner for the first time in almost four hundred years.

Downside thanks Dr. Michael Skivington for taking the time to bring us this unique item and allowing us to see it. 

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World Heritage Day

To celebrate World Heritage Day, 18th April, we wanted to share some of the hard work which has gone into Downside Abbey's Archive and Library Project.

The Beacon of Learning Project's aim was not just to protect and conserve the unique collections here, but also to engage with diverse and larger audiences. The library is home to some 450,000 books, periodicals and papers whilst the archives constitute a critical element of our national heritage.

This heritage day we are highlighting the work which went into securing the future of these collections, and which continues to look into their past. None of this work would have been possible without the Heritage Lottery Fund and several other funders who all shared the Monastic Community's vision to preserve these wonderful collections.

One of the main aims of the project has been to make the iconic library building fit for purpose, and create an atmosphere which is conducive to protecting Downside's collections. The building, designed by the architect Francis Pollen, was opened in 1971, and is a perfect place for the monks to utilize their collections.

However, we can now say that it is truly fit for purpose as over the last two and a half years we have placed UV filters on the windows to reduce fading, completely re-wired the building to prevent electrical fires, installed LED lighting to reduce lux and heat, installed a new GRP roof which stopped leaks and introduced a new humidity and temperature control throughout the building.

What we have also done is to begin a programme of preventative conservation which has included storing archive material in correct boxes, removed old rusty staples and replaced them with industry standard paper clips, using approved wrapping materials for items and worked hard to protect more vulnerable items. One of our interns carried out conservation work on items from the archive, almost transforming their appearance and protecting them for years to come.

We are truly proud of the work which has gone into the project, and hope this will have preserved the heritage held here at Downside for many, many years to come.

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Monastic Librarians of Downside

Dom Raymund Webster 1880-1957

Dom Raymund was born in Edinburgh in 1880 and attended Harrow from 1893-1897. He then moved to New College, Oxford 1898-1902 and was extremely keen on rowing, as many of his photo albums in the archive show.

In 1899 Dom Raymund was received into the church at Innsbruck, Austria and arrived at Downside as a postulant in 1900. He received the habit in 1902 at Belmont and took his simple vows in 1903 followed by his solemn vows in 1906.

Dom Raymund attended Sant Anselmo in Rome in 1912, and was ordained priest there. He returned to Downside in 1913 and became the librarian. In July 1915 Dom Raymund joined the Army Chaplains Department and was sent to France as a Chaplain to the Forces. His letters from the front are vivid in their descriptions of the conflict and show his increasing despair at the sights he witnessed.

Dom Raymund applied to leave the Department in 1917 and arrived back at Downside completely shocked by his wartime experiences. The mere mention of war was repugnant to him, he wrote in one letter to a friend. So, to ease him back to normality, he threw himself into library and school work.

Teaching in the school, building sets for school theatre productions and increasing the collections of the monastic library were Dom Raymund's activities from 1917-1934. His diaries of this period are intermittent but show how busy he was and discuss some of his workings in the library. In 1934 he went on a long holiday to Africa, returning in 1935 before going to Worth Priory.

At Worth Dom Raymund worked in the school and also in the library there. In 1939, he went to Scotland to recover from an illness and did not return to Downside until 1942, resuming his work in the library until his death in Bristol under the care of the Blue Nuns in 1957.

Dom Raymund is known as 'The Great Librarian' at Downside, as he began the great collections we have today. The rare book collection owes much to his hard work, and the card catalogue in use today was begun by him.

In essence, Dom Raymund Webster is the reason we have the wonderful library collections we do today.

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St George's Day

This picture of St George slaying the dragon forms part of Sir Ninian Comper’s St Sebastian Chapel in Downside Abbey Church.

Happy St George's Day! The feast day of St George is celebrated on 23rd April, but what do we actually know about this famous saint?

St George is not just the patron saint of England, he is also the patron of soldiers and boy scouts, as well as being the titular saint of numerous churches around the world. He was one of the most famous early martyrs, but no historical particulars survive of this great saint.

Veneration of St George as a soldier saint began in early times, but it seems to have started in Palestine. It is thought he was martyred there in the third or fourth century. As early as the sixth century he was referred to as a good man 'whose deeds are known only to God.'

The most famous legend of St George is of him being a knight and rescuing a maiden from a dragon in Libya, which led to the baptisms of thousands of people. It is thought he fell victim to the persecutions of Diocletian and was beheaded at Nicomedia for his Christian faith. The story of the dragon and St George appears to have been a later medieval addition to the story.

How St George became patron saint of England is also unclear. It is believed that crusaders returning from the Holy Land did much to establish his popularity. Many point to King Edward III's use of his patronage for his Order of the Garter which was extablished in 1348 as the first association of him with the patronage of England. We do know that in 1415 his feast day was made a festival of the highest rank.

St George's emblem, the red cross on a white field, was known in the fourteenth century, but is probably much older.