Posted on 05/17/2014 7:16:36 PM PDT by marshmallow
THEY fled the city almost 500 years ago during the English Reformation.
But this summer, after centuries away, the Greyfriars will finally return to Oxford.
The Conventual Catholic friars are to settle in All Saints Convent, Cowley, in the next two months, once it is vacated by the All Saints Sisters of the Poor, who are moving to a smaller building.
Greyfriar formator Friar Daniel Geary, 53, said: It is going to be quite a wonderful and historic moment.
There will be 12 of us in the house of formation, with many being involved in training and going to classes.
But part of that process is also to become involved with the area. Cowley is a very rich and diverse place and we look forward to joining the community.
Know as the Greyfriars for their grey robes, two members of the Franciscan Conventuals first arrived in Oxford in 1224, having been sent to England by St Francis of Assisi, a medieval saint famed for creating the Nativity scene.
The monks lived in Greyfriars Hall, in Iffley Road, and provided aid to citys growing population, helping the poor and founding academic institutions.
But in 1538 their convent, along with others around the country, fell foul of King Henry VIII during the English Reformation.
That saw the King reject the authority of the Pope and make himself head of the Church, so he could grant himself a divorce from his first wife, Catherine of Aragon.
What followed was a purge of catholic monks loyal to the Vatican and the order was forced to flee the country.
(Excerpt) Read more at oxfordtimes.co.uk ...
While they were gone, the minarets moved in.
St Francis of Assisi, a medieval saint famed for creating the Nativity scene.
Exactly which Oxford scholar wrote this brilliant little ditty?
**What followed was a purge of catholic monks loyal to the Vatican and the order was forced to flee the country.**
So many Catholics died.
They didn’t just fall over and die. They were murdered.
Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:
Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.
I was thinking of Gibbon saying there would be minarets over Oxford but for Charles Martel's victory at Poitiers.
Shakespeare exonerated. Whew! That was close.
You put it correctly.
I guess I ought to get a passport and airline ticket. This is the first I heard about my ‘going home.’
I think he’s also the patron saint of petting zoos.
Makes me think of the wonderful old Disney film “ Greyfriars Bobby: The True Story of a Dog”
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Scotland 1865. An old shepherd and his little Skye terrier go to Edinburgh. But when the shepherd dies of pneumonia, the dog remains faithful to his master, refuses to be adopted by anyone, and takes to sleeping on his master’s grave in the Greyfriars kirkyard, despite a caretaker with a “no dogs” rule. And when Bobby is taken up for being unlicensed, it’s up to the children of Edinburgh and the Lord Provost to decide what’s to be done.
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If you enjoy movies about dogs this is a must see.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054944/
I wonder why they wore gray habits instead of brown, as was typical for Franciscans in continental Europe and eventually America. Different costs of fabric?
Ping!
St. Francis of Assisi dressed in a robe of rough or course gray wool. This is reputed to be that robe: https://pilgrimpace.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/2749263-robe_of_st_francis_assisi.jpg
Generally the Franciscan friars of the Order of Friars Minor (called the regular observance, abbreviated O.F.M.), the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (called “Capuchins,” abbreviated O.F.M. Cap.), and the Order of Friars Minor Conventual (O.F.M. Conv.) wear brown today.
The “Greyfriars” name has fallen away - except in connection with England - because none of these three groups of Franciscans usually wear grey anymore. Generally the regular observance friars and the Capuchins wear brown and the Conventuals wear black (though occasionally the Conventuals wear gray).
Several of the new Franciscan groups, generally founded with a stricter observance of the older Franciscan rule wear gray (the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal and the Franciscans of the Immaculate).
Thanks for your ping # 10. Interesting.
Thank you, very informative! The depictions of St. Francis in brown must simply reflect the American experience of Franciscans.
Well they were martyred.
I have one book written by the founder of the Francisians of the Renewel, Father Benedict Grouchel, and it is called “The Cross at Ground Zero”.
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