On Saturday 31 May, about 17 Knights and Dames and their guests squeezed into St Margaret’s Chapel in Edinburgh Castle for Mass celebrated by the Right Reverend Jeremy Milne, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of St Andrews & Edinburgh. Following the Mass we all went to for afternoon tea in the Castle tea Rooms where we had a special table for us all.
The chapel itself only holds 20 people, so this was a great intimate occasion. Our thanks to thanks to all involved in organising the event. It is hoped that another event might be held in Glasgow next year.
The 32nd Portsmouth Diocese Mass and Celebration for our diocesan knights and dames took place at St. John’s Cathedral, Portsmouth on Thursday 5th September. Mgr Vincent Harvey was the principal celebrant and Mgr John Nelson our speaker at the luncheon attended by 30.
History was made at this year’s annual Mass for Knights and Dames in the diocese of Portsmouth, held for the first time at the Cathedral of St Michael and St George in Aldershot. This is the only Catholic cathedral in England to have been formally inaugurated by Queen Victoria! The silver trowel she used for the ceremony for what was then to be the Anglican church for the Army is on display in the porch. The church was handed over for use by the Catholic church in 1973 and is an impressive building with memorials to heroes dating back across two centuries.
Bishop Paul Mason, Bishop of the Forces, celebrated the Mass and preached. A special guest was the winner of the essay project organised by the Knights and Dames for boys and girls at Portsmouth’s Catholic secondary schools. Pupils were invited to write about St Gregory or St Sylvester, the two great saints after whom our Papal orders are named. Kelechi Mwenge, of Bishop Challoner School, Basingstoke, came with his parents to receive his prize from the Bishop.
Kelechi’s essay on St Gregory the Great included an account of the famous “Not Angles but Angels” story when St Gregory met Anglo-Saxon slaves in Rome and described how the subsequent mission led by St Augustine “marked the beginning of a Christian civilisation that profoundly influences the English people and left an indelible mark on their history”. He concluded “May St Gregory’s zeal for the faith inspire and guide us in our own spiritual journeys”.
At the traditional lunch held by Knights and Dames after Mass Bishop Paul spoke of the work of Catholic chaplains in the Forces and of the support and trust that today’s young soldiers, sailors and airmen find in the Church. The Church is there for them, an unchanging source of truth and strength.
Our Corpus Christi Celebrations took place in Arundel on Thursday 8 June 2023.
Above are a selection of photographs taken of the Blessed Sacrament procession from the Cathedral to the Castle and at dinner afterwards in the Castle.
Once again we were blessed with glorious weather and the floral displays in the Cathedral were a sight to behold.
Once again our annual dinner took place in the Vincent rooms, Vincent Square and over 100 people attended. It was again a joyous occasion, made all the more so by the wonderful Mass beforehand in Westminster Cathedral, celebrated by our Guest of Honour, The Most Rev George Stack, Archbishop Emeritus of Cardiff, ably assisted by our Chaplain, Rev. Mgr Vladimir Felzmann. We are very grateful to all those who participated, including our faithful contingent from Scotland.
Below is a picture of our group in the Sacristy, preparing to process in to the Cathedral for Mass.
On Thursday 1st September 2022, Bishop Philip celebrated the annual mass of St. Gregory the Great for Diocesan Papal Knights and Dames of the Equestrian Orders of St. Gregory the Great and St. Silvester at the Cathedral. They were joined by others from our neighbouring dioceses. A total of 45 attended, the best turn-out ever.
At the luncheon afterwards a project and competition for our schools on St. Gregory and St. Sylvester was launched by Joanna Bogle DSG with the proposal to invite the winners to the 2023 celebration to receive their prizes.
We then heard ‘Bamenda the first 50 years’ a brief history of our Diocese’s involvement with the Diocese (now a Archdiocese) of Bamenda led by Colm Lennon KSG assisted by Fr’s Bernardine Nsom and Peter Codd. It was in 1974 that Bishop Derek Worlock then bishop of Portsmouth initiated a diocesan twinning with bishop Paul Verdgzekov the first bishop of the recently created diocese of Bamenda, the capital of the North West Province in Cameroon, West Africa, a practical demonstration of the Vatican II document ‘Gaudium et Spes’ (Hope & Joy).
Priests went from Portsmouth to serve in Bamenda and over the past nearly 50 years more than £1million has been raised by Portsmouth parishioners for projects that have been successfully implemented in the areas of Faith, Health, Education and Social Welfare. Currently there are six priests from Bamenda now serving in parishes across the Portsmouth Diocese.
Our annual dinner took place on Thursday 7th October in the Vincent Rooms, Vincent Square. The evening started with Mass at 5.30pm in Westminster Cathedral, celebrated by our Honorary President, Cardinal Vincent Nichols. We were honoured to be allowed to process into the Cathedral in our robes and uniforms, to our reserved seats before Mass began. As it was a Thursday evening we had the privilege of hearing the full choir of cantors and choristers sing the Missa prima: sexti toni-Croce and Stravinsky’s Ave Maria during Mass.
After Mass we walked the short distance to the Vincent Rooms where we enjoyed a splendid dinner of beautifully flavoured smoked salmon followed by delicious breast of guinea fowl.
HE Cardinal Nichols was our Guest of Honour at the dinner. There was a vibrant, joyful atmosphere to the evening. Here is a selection of photographs which reflect that.
The 29th Annual Celebration for the Papal Knights and Dames of the Portsmouth Diocese took place on Wednesday 15th September at the Church of St Edward, Windsor.
Mass was celebrated by Canon David Hopgood assisted by Mgr. Canon James Cronin and was attended by visiting Knights and Dames from the Archdioceses of Westminster and Southwark and from the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton. A number also followed online.
Mass was followed by a very tasty buffet lunch in the parish centre which provided a wonderful opportunity for friends old and new to catch up with each other.. Donations from the lunch, amounting to £215, were sent to Stella Maris in memory of Captain Anthony Brindle KSG who died in May.
Association of Papal Orders in Great Britain 