...and I caught the train from Kings Lynn to London Kings Cross, which was somehow pleasing...
At Kings Cross, a quick Tube ride to The Borough, where I was due to lead a Catholic History Walk - in pouring rain after Walsingham's golden sunshine. But somehow it was all great fun - splashing through the London puddles to glorious Wren churches and enjoying the riches of St Magnus the Martyr, and The Monument, and on past the old Billingsgate Fish Market...
We finished at All Hallows by the Tower - saved from the Great Fire which didn't reach this far.
Back to Southwark and just time for a quick mug of tea before an evening Walk covering the same route...this time finishing at the site of Sts More and Fisher's martyrdom. It has its own small garden, with a plaque bearing their names and those of others who perished there. This whole area, never built over, is a place of solemn memorial...much of it dedicated to the men who died at sea bringing food to this island in two world wars. London is no longer a great port, but even in my childhood there were ships and docks and the Merchant Navy here...
3 comments:
Good news Joanna! The Feasts of the Epiphany and Ascension will revert to their proper days in England.
Joanna,do you ever stop? 😊 Just kidding.Keep up the good work and as someone who returned to the church in recent years, with your blog playing a huge part in my coming home, I assure you it is good work. God bless!!
We were on holiday in Ireland this year and stayed at a guest house in Ennis. At breakfast each day the owner would join us and say something like "Have you heard about Michael Davit?". Off we would go discussing the 'Land War' as if it happened yesterday instead of 140 years ago. The next day we would discuss 'Robert Emmet' and the following day the 'Young Ireland Movement' all as if they were serious current issues! I just couldn't imagine discussing history in England in the same way. In Ireland history still matters. I was wrong of course - we have someone in England who lives history and more specifically English Catholic history. Her name is Joanna Bogle and her inspiring talk and walk in Westminster yesterday was inspiring. She organised sunny weather, wonderful singing by the Catholic school choir and filled us with the glorious history of the Catholic church in England and more specifically Westminster. The Catholic Church in England has faced destruction of its' beautiful church decoration and icons, loss of its' churches, torture and execution of its' priests and monks, imprisonment of its' laity and lost the right to practice its' religion. The worst excesses took place in the 16th and 17th centuries but dreadful assaults and riots against Catholics took place in the 18th century and well into the 19th century. Abuse and defamation continue into the 21st century. Joanna makes us feel all this and her mission is to spread knowledge to all of us including a generation that has been deprived of its' own history and culture. I come from a totally different culture to her - Irish Republican - but we have so much in common including a love of the Catholic church and of history itself. Long may she continue!
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