Most Holy Saviour Catholic Church Broadway Worcestershire

Having established the parish in 1826 as one of the earliest Post-Reformation Catholic Missions, the Benedictines handed responsibility for its pastoral care to the Passionists in 1850. The story of this church weaves together the lives of two religious congregations: Benedictine and Passionist Brothers, Priests and novices finding in Broadway a special place in their journies to explore God's love shown in the Death and Resurrection of Jesus.

​At St Saviour many devout young men found confirmations of their vocation to Preisthood and Religious Life with the Passionists.

​The Passionist Mission lasted 150 years at Broadway until 2000 where, in its Great Jubilee Year, the Passionists relinquished the parish to the Archdiocese of Birmingham.

The mark the Passionists left on the church and the wider village of Broadway can still be seen today and the church interior is still the same now as it was when the Passionists were here. Many Passionists are also buried in Most Holy Saviour's Churchyard.

A history of the church, written by Sister Dominic Savio (Hamer) CP in 2000 to mark the Passionist's departure, can be seen by clicking the link below. Here you can also see archive photos of the church.

https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/ba4b4e11-425e-4ba1-8c38-2e91f8b8a289/St%20Saviour%20Booklet.pdf

 

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Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham  

https://www.catholiceveshamandbroadway.org/  

 

 

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St. Saviour's Catholic Church is situated in Broadway, one of the most vibrant and beautiful villages of UK, where prayers and worship have been offered to excise the Almighty God over the years. We offer a generous welcome and gracious hospitality to all who come to the church, offering a varied ministry to all ages in the parish. The Parish is in the archdiocese of Birmingham led by Archbishop Bernard Longley.

Ancient Ruins Broadway, situated within a short distance of Pershore's medieval Abbey of Our Lady and described in Domesday Book as "the land of St Mary of Pershore", has its own special place in the dowry of Mary. Dissolved by King Henry VIII in the sixteenth century and fallen into ruins, both Pershore and Evesham had become the homes of owls and bats, as the great Passionist, Blessed Dominic Barberi described all England's ancient monastic remains in the early nineteenth century. Even as he wrote, however, in God's wonderful plans the Benedictines were already returning to the lovely Vale of Evesham.

Dom John Augustine Birdsall OSB During the penal times, a group of English Benedictines had found a home at Lamspringe near Hildesheim in Westphalia. One of these Benedictines was Dom John Augustine Birdsall. Born in Liverpool on 27 June 1775 and educated by the Dominicans at Bornhem, he entered the English Benedictine Order at Lamspringe in 1795. He was professed as a monk in 1796 and ordained a priest in 1801. As Prefect of Studies, he taught Peter Baines, the future Vicar Apostolic of the Western District in England. In 1803, however, the Abbey of SS Adrian and Dionysius was suppressed by the Prussian Government, although the monks were to be allowed to stay there until they died. By 1803, as a result of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, the British Government were actually welcoming back the very religious orders they had forced into exile during the penal times. Accordingly, the Lamspringe monks took the opportunity to return to their own country. Dom Birdsall lived in Ampleforth until 1806 when he was sent to the mission of St John the Evangelist in Bath in the Benedictine Southern Province of Canterbury. In 1809 he moved to Cheltenham, where in 1810 he opened its first public Catholic chapel since the Reformation. On the death of one of his parishioners, George Taylor on 5 July 1813, he received a bequest of £1,350 to provide another Catholic mission with a church and a house. Since the sum was not really sufficient, however, Dom Birdsall allowed the interest to accumulate.

The Broadway Benedictine Mission In 1822 Dom Birdsall was elected the Provincial of Canterbury and in 1826 was appointed President General of the English Benedictines and Prior of Winchester. It thus fell to him to defend the rights of the Benedictines against his former pupil, Bishop Baines and to save Ampleforth Abbey from extinction. At the same time, he decided to use Taylor's donation (by then, apparently, increased to £1,500) to buy land in Broadway in order to build a house and chapel there, with the intention of rehousing the Lamspringe community and providing a Catholic public school. Broadway at that time was a staging-post on the main roads from Wales and the West to Oxford and London and from Stratford to Leamington, with forty to fifty stage-coaches stopping there each day. Renting a large room in the Crown Inn, Dom Birdsall said Mass in Broadway for the first time on 17 December 1826. He continued to say Mass at the Crown until 1 April 1827. After that he used the house of a devout and wealthy Catholic, Mr. Collet, where he also lived. He began to build the chapel in Broadway on 13 May 1828, blessing the foundation-stone two days later, on Ascension Thursday. The chapel was roofed on 8 July 1828; the windows fixed and the floor laid in 1829. On 27 January 1830 the foundation-stone of the house was laid and on the following 23 November Dom Birdsall was able to sleep in this new Benedictine foundation. In that same year he was appointed titular Abbot of Westminster. He said Mass at Mr. Collet's for the last time on 19 December 1830 and the first Mass in the new chapel on 1 January 1831.

The Chapel Of SS Adrian And Dionysius The chapel, dedicated, like the abbey in Lamspringe, to SS Adrian and Dionysius, was officially opened on 8 September, the feast of Our Lady's Birthday, 1832. In the meantime Dom Birdsall had carefully placed under the Altar a glass bottle containing a document recording the munificence of George Taylor and the date of the blessing of the foundation-stone. When this bottle was later discovered by the Passionists, they set into the sanctuary wall a small, brass plaque recording Mr. Taylor's piety and generosity." The Benedictine monastery was officially opened and the first clothing ceremony took place in 1834 on 9 October, the patronal feast of SS Adrian and Dionysius.

The German College Behind the monastery Dom Birdsall built another wing, the "German College", which was intended especially for young men who were particularly interested in learning German and French, as well as in literature, the arts and science and in being trained to discuss the important topics of the day." Indeed, Dom Birdsall seems to have been regarded as an intellectual authority for between November 1824 and July 1827 he was consulted by William Cobbett who was then writing his History of the Protestant Reformation. By 1836, however, Dom Birdsall had found himself in financial difficulties. He went to Germany, possibly to try to recover some of the losses from Lamspringe Abbey but whilst he was at Hildesheim his right eye became seriously inflamed and he lost its sight. He then took rheumatic fever and pleurisy. After eight weeks' illness he returned to Broadway, He never recovered, however, and died in Broadway on 2 August 1837. He was buried in the cemetery beside the chapel. Unfortunately, the school then declined, partly perhaps because the construction of the Great Western Railway had deprived Broadway of its significance as a staging-post. By 1844 the monks had been dispersed to other Benedictine foundations. It seemed that the attempt to make a new home for the Lamspringe community had failed but at last in 1878 they were refounded at Fort Augustus Abbey on the shores of Loch Ness.

Served From Cheltenham From 1844 Broadway had no resident priest and Mass was celebrated only once a month by Dom J. Kendal OSB from Cheltenham. The Catholics of Broadway, however, although few in number were staunch in their Faith. Deprived of Sunday Mass they might be but they need not lose their devotions too. On other Sundays, therefore, they came along to their chapel and there Dom Birdsall's old friend, William Varley read them a sermon from a book supplied by Dom Kendal.

The Vision Of St Paul Of The Cross, Founder Of The Passionists In the meantime, in 1841, Blessed Dominic Barberi had arrived in England, pioneering the Passionist Mission to a country for which the Passionist Founder, St Paul of the Cross had had a special love. "I had a particular impulse to pray for the conversion of England", he wrote in 1720 at the height of the penal times, "especially because I want the standard of the Holy Faith to be erected there so that there will be an increase of devotion and reverence, of homage and love, with frequent acts of adoration for the Blessed Sacrament." He later revealed that for fifty years he had never been able to pray without praying for England. That was no trifle, for St Paul of the Cross was the greatest mystic of the eighteenth century. Shortly before he died in 1775 he had a vision in which he saw his children, the Passionists, in England. Beautiful Broadway must surely have formed part of that vision.

Blessed Dominic Barberi Blessed Dominic Barberi, too, was a great mystic. When he was only about eighteen years old, God revealed to him that he would become a priest and would evangelise North-Western Europe and especially England and other parts of the British Isles. That revelation was not fulfilled until 1840 when he finally left Rome for Belgium and England but in the intervening years God had so ordered his life that grace and circumstances gave him the spiritual, intellectual and professional training that he needed for his task. "A child in the simplicity of his heart", Wiseman said of him, "a lion in his intelligence." When at last after thirty-three years praying for this country, Blessed Dominic of the Mother of God came to Mary's Dowry, he opened the cradle of the Passionists in England at Aston Hall near Stone in Staffordshire. During the next seven years he laboured unceasingly for Christian Unity in England, reaping the reconciliation not just of John Henry Newman and others of the intelligentsia but of Elizabeth Prout, the future Foundress of the Sisters of the Cross and Passion, and of countless numbers of the poor working classes in the major industrial centres.

Woodchester In 1846 Blessed Dominic opened a second house at Woodchester in Gloucestershire. In fact he was on his way to Woodchester when he took a sudden heart attack and died at Reading on 27 August 1849. In spirit he continued his journey, arriving and holding a conversation there with the Rector, Father Vincent Grotti. The conversation ended when Father Vincent was called out of the room. It was only when a telegram told him of Blessed Dominic's death earlier that day that Father Vincent realised what had taken place and understood why his visitor had suddenly disappeared. By September 1850, however, it had become clear to the Passionists that they could no longer stay in Woodchester. It was at this point that Dom Kendal and Dom Glasbrook in Cheltenham went to Woodchester to ask the Passionists if they would be interested in the Broadway Mission.

The Coming Of The Passionists To Broadway The time was ripe because the Passionist Father General, Father Anthony Testa had sent Father Eugene Martorelli to represent him in visiting the English houses and he was staying in Woodchester. When, however, the two Benedictines arrived there on 20 August 1850 they found that he, the Rector, Father Vincent Grotti and the Vice-Rector, Father Honorius Mazzini had all gone to Aston Hall. They therefore laid their proposal before Father Raphael Gorga, the Lector in Theology. On their return, Fathers Eugene and Vincent, seeing the suggestion as a possible solution to their own problem in Woodchester, authorised Father Raphael to inspect the property in Broadway. He did so, accompanied by Dom Kendal and Dom Glasbrook and found that Dom Kendal still said Mass there once a month and that the house was inhabited by his servant. Negotiations were then opened with the English Benedictine President General, Dom John Jenkins and finally, with the blessing of Bishop Ullathorne of Birmingham, the Passionists bought the property from the Benedictines for £400. Father Vincent Grotti said his first Mass in Broadway on 8 September 1850, one hundred and fifty years ago this Jubilee Year. On the same day Dom Kendal gave him possession of the property and Father Francis Xavier McEvoy took up residence, with the servant staying to look after him until the rest of the community arrived.

The Passionist Novitiate The Passionist community moved out of Woodchester and into Broadway on 7 October 1850. They brought with them what little furniture they owned; their books, so many of them gifts from John Henry Newman to or in memory of his great friend, Blessed Dominic Barberi; and a lead coffin containing the remains of Father Marcellianus Pini CP, which had had to be removed from the vault of William Leigh, the landowner and patron of the Church of the Annunciation in Woodchester." Father Vincent Grotti was Broadway's first Passionist Rector. He had with him, in addition to Father Xavier, Brothers Seraphim Pesce and John Fielding, whose task was to make such alterations as would turn the house and school into a novitiate. Father Vincent paid £484 4s. for one and a half acres of land from a Mrs. Stanley in order to extend the garden. Then he renovated the interior of the chapel and had it properly varnished and repaired. Without destroying or removing Dom Birdsall's Altar he encased it in a new one. He made a private chapel for the religious, created space for a parish choir and repaired the organ. He built a little chapel in honour of St Aloysius in what had previously been a yard. On 12 December 1850 four novices, Father Leonard Fryer, Brother Sebastian Keens and two lay brothers, Brother Peter Pope and Brother Martin Shells arrived from Aston Hall with their novice-master, Father Salvian Nardocci. For well over the next century, with two short breaks in Cotton Hall in 1854-5 and in Ireland from 1908 to 1927, Broadway took the place of Aston Hall as the Passionist "cradle" in England. It is not surprising that it was in Broadway that on two occasions in the spring of 1851 Blessed Dominic Barberi again appeared to Father Vincent Grotti. Broadway has indeed been blessed throughout these years by the lives of so many fervent young men, practicing prayer and penance for the conversion of England and for the restoration of Christian Unity.

St Saviour's Church With more hands to help, Father Vincent continued his renovations. On New Year's Day 1851 he put in a new Tabernacle, purchased from Hardman and Son of Birmingham. He erected statues of Our Lady and St Joseph on each side of the Altar and a Calvary in the monks' choir. He also renewed the front of the church. The local people were immensely excited by all this activity, so that an extraordinary crowd gathered for the re-opening. Preaching on that occasion, Father Bernard O'Loughlin told the parishioners that henceforth their little chapel would be known as "St Saviour's Church".

Father Bernard O'Loughlin Father Bernard O'Loughlin, the "Apostle of Broadway", arrived on 30 January 1851. On 13 March he became Vicar to Father Vincent. The latter was still fully occupied with the property, renovating the interior of the Benedictine house to provide extra rooms, linking it to the German College and erecting a belfry with two bells. He also built a cottage for the gardener, Mr Daniel, who had probably come from Stone or Aston, a cowshed and a brew house for making cider. Accordingly, he asked Father Bernard to take charge of the parish. Born in Tunstall, Staffordshire of Irish parents on 18 September 1823, Father Bernard had entered the Passionist novitiate in Aston Hall under Blessed Dominic in 1844, lived with him for much of the next seven years and was even miraculously cured by him of tuberculosis. In 1851 he was twenty-seven years old and fired with Blessed Dominic's own zeal. Almost immediately after his arrival in Broadway he asked permission to go into the village in his religious habit. The permission was granted with some reluctance but it was finally given and, thus attired, Father Bernard set out to visit the homes of the Catholics. He had not gone far when he was surrounded by a crowd of children. Blessed Dominic had once described Bernard as an angel, partly on account of his goodness and partly because he had very fair hair and blue eyes. His methods, however, were totally down-to-earth. He quickly formed the children into troops and, to their immense enjoyment and the astonishment of the gaping adults, paraded them round the streets and back to the monastery, their numbers increasing as they marched. There he invited them in. At first afraid but finally overcome by curiosity, they all trooped into the parlour. Soon the normally silent cloisters were echoing to the strains of "Twinkle, twinkle, little star". Father Bernard gave the children sweets and invited them to come again, as they subsequently did, every evening, at a given time.

St. Mary's School It was probably Father Bernard's early friendship with the children that made him realise how much they needed a school. Father Vincent agreed to his using the land he had bought from Mrs. Stanley but there was no money to pay for the building. At first Father Bernard tried to beg, going out with Brother John in Broadway and throughout the surrounding villages but, although the response was good in Broadway itself, where the people gave £30, he raised no more than a paltry sum elsewhere. Next he tried to apply for a Government building grant but that was unsuccessful too. Finally he decided to borrow £300 from a Mr Hanford of Cheltenham, promising to repay it in three annual instalments of £100. He paid the first on 1 January 1856. When he went to pay the second two days later, Mr. Hanford returned his previous £100, making a donation of the whole sum on the understanding that the school should never be closed.

Father Paul Mary Pakenham In the meantime, on 16 May 1851 Father Bernard had collected every working man in Broadway capable of using his arms and legs and in possession of a barrow and spade and in one day they took away the hedge, cleared the ground and prepared it for the foundations, which were commenced the next day by the local builder, William Hensley. On 22 May 1851 the foundation-stone was laid by their most distinguished parishioner, William Varley, a true friend to both the Benedictines and the Passionists and it was blessed by the Rector, Father Vincent Grotti. A sermon was preached by Father Thomas OP of the Passionists'

St. Mary's School, 1851

Dominican friends at Woodchester. The convert, Hennry Edward Manning, the future Cardinal, was present, as he was then on retreat at St Saviour's in preparation for his Ordination. It was, however, the Cross-bearer, who attracted the attention of a journalist, who reported with more bigotry than accuracy, "The Hon. Charles Reginald Pakenham, who has lately become a lay brother among the Passionists, degraded himself by carrying the Cross." The Hon. Captain Charles Reginald Pakenham of the Grenadier Guards, nephew of the Duke of Wellington and of General Lygon at Spring Hill had, in fact, received the Passionist religious habit that day as a cleric. Subsequently, as Father Paul Mary Pakenham he was the first Rector of the Retreat of St Paul of the Cross, Mount Argus, Dublin. Revered for his sanctity, he died in Mount Argus on 1 March 1857 with the saintly Father Ignatius Spencer at his side. The labourers obviously worked strenuously throughout the summer for the school was finished on the feast of Our Lady's Birthday, 8 September 1851, exactly one year from Father Vincent's first Mass in Broadway. It was typical of Father Bernard that it was dedicated to the "Virgin Mother of God" and that it opened that same day with a birthday party of cakes and tea for the children and their mothers. Nor did he forget the workmen. With sacred banners flying and arrayed in their Sunday-best, they processed with great s(>lamnity to a grand dinner at the Trumpet Inn.

The Teachers The first teachers were Mr and Mrs Edward and Mary Maguire from Howth in Dublin, parents of Osmund Maguire who in September 1851 entered the Passionist novitiate. Together they received £60 per year but as this was insufficient to support their increasing family they had to leave. They left a memorial in the form of a sundial. In 1852 Father Vincent had paid £700 for another three acres, known as Foot Ball Close, which he used for an orchard and a garden. Then he had enclosed the monastery grounds with a wall, erected a summer-house and directed Mr Daniel to make paths round the garden. The Maguires' gift was thus an attractive addition. Father Vincent at this time also built stables and sank a well. In July 1854 a student, Brother John Baptist Rugens designed a new Altar to replace both Dom Birdsall's and Father Vincent's cover. After the Maguires left, Father Bernard entrusted the school to Miss Mary Teresa Smallwood, a certificated teacher who had previously been at Aston. She received £40 a year and taught in St Mary's from 18 September 1854. Her health was poor, however, and so on 31 March 1855 she also had to leave. She was succeeded by Miss Caroline Waddy, a convert, who worked without a salary. "A treasure" in every way, as described by Father Sebastian Keens, an excellent teacher, energetic and charitable, she quickly became integrated into parish life too as choir mistress and organist and even started an industrial school in her spare time. Placed under Government Inspection on 25 September 1854, the school was inspected by T.W.M. Marshall HMI on 3 May 1855 and recommended as excellent. It received its first capitation grant in 1856, mainly for Miss Waddy's work in 1855.

St Joseph's Cottage By then Father Bernard had also provided a playground for the children and St Joseph's Cottage for the teacher. It was designed by Charles Hansom, who visited Broadway on the feast of St Joseph, 19 March 1855 and contracted with a local builder. The work was started immediately that same day and completed in July 1855. When Miss Waddy lived there, dinner was collected from the monastery by her little maid, Emma Bolton at 12 o'clock each day. At that time, 1857, the school, still considered excellent by T.W.M. Marshall, had more than a hundred children. Clearly, Miss Waddy needed an assistant.

Elizabeth Prout, Mother Mary Joseph Of Jesus Foundress Of The Sisters Of The Cross And Passion In the meantime, another Passionist, Father Gaudentius Rossi had founded the Sisters of the Cross and Passion with Elizabeth Prout, Mother Mary Joseph of Jesus and they already had schools in the Manchester and Sutton areas. Father Bernard seems to have asked Mother Mary Joseph if she could supply a teacher for Broadway. She replied promptly by comir#gtto Broadway on 5-6 May 1857 and then, in October 1857, by sending Sister Francis de Sales Brennan, whose brother was a Passionist novice. She stayed in St Joseph's Cottage with Miss Waddy. Probably both Mother Mary Joseph and Father Bernard hoped that the opening might lead to the Sisters' making a foundation in Broadway but it was not to be: Sister Francis de Sales became seriously ill with tuberculosis, had toleave Broadway and died in 1858.

St. Joseph's Cottage

Mother Mary Joseph, betrayed by some of her early Sisters, had to cross to Ireland to beg in order to pay off the debts they had incurred. Her visit to "dear, kind Father Osmund Maguire" in Mount Argus was like a light in the otherwise all-pervading darkness; later in the same year it was "dear Father Bernard O'Loughlin" who rescued her Congregation from suppression; and on 14 August 1858 Anne Shorey from Broadway entered her novitiate.

Catholic Lectures In Broadway In the midst of all these educational activities Father Bernard was not neglecting the spiritual life of the parish. From 1851 he gave instructions in the Catholic Faith in the school on Sunday, Wednesday and Friday evenings. Ever imaginative, he provided a diversity of lectures, stories, explanations and role-acting and when he had to be away Brother Paul Mary Pakenham took his place. Immensely popular, the sessions were crowded to excess and many of the people became Catholics. When the Passionists had arrived in Broadway there had been only forty Catholics in the whole area, including Campden and the surrounding villages, of whom only thirty, fourteen in Broadway itself, were actually practicing. Within five years of Father Bernard's arrival there were a hundred and fifty Catholics in Broadway alone and sixty children in the school. In 1851 Father Bernard also organised a parish choir, which he trained personally. In 1856, however, he had to go to Ireland to give a mission. In his absence the choir disintegrated and so, on his return, he started a children's choir instead. He taught them Gregorian chant so well that in 1858 Father Salvian Nardocci could write in his diary, "The children as usual sang the Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus and Agnus Dei." That was no mean achievement for a school in Broadway. In addition to his activities in Broadway itself, Father Bernard O'Loughlin evangelised the surrounding area of Laverton, Buckland, Childswickham and Willersey.

BUCKLAND In November 1851 Father Bernard decided that, on Monday evenings, he would extend his lectures to Buckland. The village was about two miles from Broadway and so he bought a donkey and gig and every Monday for the next three months he set out at a trot for the home of one of his parishioners, a Mr Gibson, who had just become a Catholic on 1 November. The meetings lasted about an hour from 7-8 p.m. and were overcrowded. The year was 1851, however. Pope Pius IX had restored the Catholic Hierarchy in England and Wales in September 1850 and, thanks to the Prime Minister, Lord John Russell and The Times, the country was ablaze with anti-Catholicism.28 Non-Catholics were blatantly encouraged to think that every form of bigotry against Catholics was a demonstration of English liberty, Protestantism and loyalty to Queen Victoria. All over the country there were cries of "No Popery", "Church and Queen" and "No Surrender". With good reason, the Passionists were highly respected in Broadway but in Buckland Father Bernard's weekly appearances were greeted with jeers, shouts, screams, yells, threats and blasphemies. Sometimes the mob tried to overturn the gig, or they put obstacles in its way on the road. They pelted Father Bernard with mud, threw stones at his head and threatened to kill him. They almost did one night but the huge stone they flung at him hit his Passionist Sign and fell onto the seat beside him. He seems to have had a premonition of the incident, for that evening he had refused to allow Father Osmuna Maguire's little brother to go with him as usual. If he had gone, he would certainly have been killed. From then, the Catholic men, women and children and all the people of Broadway formed a bodyguard to protect Father Bernard and his donkey. While Father Bernard gave his instructions in Mr Gibson's house, the riff¬raff of Buckland screamed, yelled, shouted and made all the noise they could. Some kicked at the door; others threw stones at it. Some sang, Some whistled. Some beat tin kettles. Others assembled in the house next door and played the violin, sang, drank and rioted. Even the well-disposed joined in with the rabble, through fear, bravado or shame. Finally the landlord threatened to evict Mr Gibson if the meetings did not stop and so Father Bernard had to abandon them. In February 1852, however, the sexton's five daughters were all received into the Catholic Church by Father Vincent and in May 1854 Father Bernard received their father.

Childswickham During the same three months, Father Bernard went on Tuesday evenings to Childswickham at 7 p.m. for a similar meeting at an old house belonging to a Mr Baradell. Again there was a large attendance. Father Bernard began with prayers and hymns as in Buckland and the children in particular quickly learnt the Catholic hymns. Very soon he had three converts but he also had even fiercer opposition than in Buckland. Dependent on the ability of his poor little donkey, which suffered grievously from their tormentors, he had to ford a stream. At that time of the year it was frequently swollen and the opposition used every stratagem to topple him into its icey waters. Somehow or other they never succeeded. Once he began his lectures, they gathered outside, rattling ploughshares and old saucepans and shouting diabolically. Frequently he could not make himself heard. Indeed the Passionists in the monastery always knew when he was on the way home because they could hear the rabble long before he reached Broadway. Thanks to those foundations he laid, however, a Mass Centre was opened in Chilswickham in 1947 with Mass every Sunday."

The Archconfraternity Of The Immaculate Heart Of Mary In October 1853, with the approval of Bishop Ullathorne, Father Bernard established the Archconfraternity of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Since most of the Catholics in Broadway were converts, every Sunday for five to six months before actually starting it, Father Bernard explained what the Archconfraternity entailed. In fact it led to many conversions and extraordinary cures of the incurable. The members used to pray for particular intentions. "Thanks and praise to God and His Blessed Mother", Father Bernard recorded, "many of the things we prayed for were obtained." He also had a relic of St Paul of the Cross. Once when the doctor had declared openly about a lady who was dying with tuberculosis that "nothing could cure her but a popish miracle", Father Bernard blessed her with this relic and the people prayed for her recovery. Within a week she was up and back at work and was soon a strong, hea! thy woman again.

Campden Campden House, about three miles from Broadway, was the home of Viscount Campden, the eldest son of the Earl of Gainsborough. In 1854 Viscount Charles Noel and his wife, recent converts to Catholicism, asked Charles Hansom of Clifton to design a domestic chapel for them. Father Bernard O'Loughlin blessed it on 25 March 1854. At first they had a Jesuit chaplain from Rome, then a French priest and then Father William Henry Anderdon, a convert Anglican clergyman. In 1855 Lord Campden bought a piece of land in Campden Town, one and half miles from Campden House and built a large wooden room to serve as a school and a church. He asked for a Passionist to open it with a mission. Accordingly, on Saturday, 24 February 1855 Father Honorius Mazzini went to the church-school and, with a workman to help him, began to set up a platform, from which he would preach standing beside a large Crucifix. When the workman saw the life size figure on the Cross, he was terrified, thinking it was a real corpse! Opening the mission that evening with a sermon, the next day Father Honorius celebrated the first Mass in Campden Town since the Reformation. The chaplain, Father Anderdon, explained to the people what the Mass was, with the result that the whole congregation behaved exceedingly well, kneeling and looking on in perfect silence towards the Altar. After Mass Father Anderdon preached a very impressive sermon, telling the people why he had become a Catholic. In the afternoon, Father Honorius gave instructions on the first chapter of the catechism. There was quite a large attendance and for his evening sermon the chapel was crowded to excess. About sixty to seventy people immediately told him they would like to become Catholics and he began to give them instructions immediately. During the three weeks he stayed there he received several people into the Catholic Church and left others under instruction.

The Sisters Of The Passion On 30 March 1855, the feast of Our Lady's Seven Dolours, Father Bernard started the Sisters of the Passion with four ladies: Mary Anne Shrimass, Mary Teresa Smallwood, Hannah Varley and Miss Caroline Mary Waddy. With the permission of the Passionist Father General, they were aggregated to the secular Congregation of the Passion and followed a rule of life based on the Rule of the Confraternity of the Passion.

Cardinal Wiseman In Broadway At 5 p.m. on Monday, 30 July 1855 St Mary's school bells rang out a joyful signal that Cardinal Nicholas Wiseman was approaching. St Saviour's church bells immediately rang out in welcome. The Cardinal was staying at Campden House and had accepted an invitation to visit Broadway. He came accompanied by Lord and Lady Campden, Monsignor Searle, the Hon. and Rev. Howard, the Hon. and Rev. Stonor and Mr Doyle. Two leading parishioners, William Varley and Hector Caffiere came to welcome him. Ihen the Cardinal spent two hours going all over the house, the church, the schools and the new cottage, very much delighted with everything he saw, including the four Sisters of the Passion, who, in the long black dresses they wore on special occasions, attracted the visitors' attention and were the subject of many enquiries. Cardinal Wiseman again visited Broadway on 17 August 1857. This time, however, there was a note of sadness in his visit, for he asked to see a photograph he had heard the Passionists had of Father Paul Mary Pakenham, who had died earlier that year. The photograph was treasured by Father Salvian Nardocci, who had been Father Paul Mary's novice-master and friend, so that it must have been a great sacrifice for him to offer it to the Cardinal, who, of course, accepted it.

Father Bernard O'loughlin As Rector In 1857 Father Bernard became the Rector of St Saviour's Retreat. As Rector he made a number of renovations in the house and to the property, including making more paths in the garden and planting fruit trees. In November 1858, when there was a serious shortage of water, he cleared out the wells, made a drain across Stanley's field to a well near the kitchen door and brought water along the drain from two excellent springs. At the suggestion of Father Sebastian Keens, he and Father Bernard held a meeting on 26 September 1858 to start a parish lending library. The object was to supply its members with good and entertaining books in order to help them to advance in the knowledge of religion and piety. Membership cost a shilling, with a weekly fee of a halfpenny. Books could be changed each week at the end of Sunday Mass. They must have been scarce, however, for members could take out only one at a time. Nevertheless the library proved a popular venture, as by 7 November 1858 there were thirty-one members. It was a sad day for Broadway when, on 8 June 1863, Father Bernard had to leave for Paris as the first Rector of the Passionist foundation there.

Father Ignatius Spencer It would be impossible to recall the history of St Saviour's, Broadway without dwelling on the memory of Father Ignatius Spencer CP, for he loved it with a very special affection. Frequently abroad, giving missions and retreats and preaching his Crusade for the Conversion of England, he seems to have returned to Broadway again and again. His visits were welcomed by the people, the community and especially by the novices, with whom he spent a lot of time. Thus on 16 January 1859 he preached to a large congregation in the church on the necessity of mental prayer for at least a quarter of an hour each day. Two days later he had a chat with each of the novices, who, as Father Salvian, the novice-master noted "were very much edified and formed an opinion that Father Ignatius was really a living saint". Father Salvian also noted in admiration Father Ignatius Spencer's movements the next day: "Father Ignatius got up for Matins at 2 o'clock, said Mass at four, left the house about half-nast five and walked the whole way to Evesham (seven miles) to catch the half-past seven train and so go by third class. He never travels by any other class than the third." Father Ignatius was the youngest son of George John, second Earl Spencer of Althorp, forbear of Diana, Princess of Wales. On that occasion, he was going to Elizabeth Prout's convent at Levenshulme for a day or two, then to St Anne's, Sutton for three or four days and thence to Dublin. Again in January 1860 Father Ignatius arrived in Broadway from London and immediately went for a walk with the novices. He preached to them and the community the next day, 26 January and left on the 30th. He was there again in August and November 1863 and in July 1864. No-one ever forgot that visit, firstly because he brought with him the Passionist Father General, visiting England for the first time and, secondly, because the sermons Father Ignatius gave in the morning and evening of 24 July were the last he ever preached in Broadway, for on 29 July he left for St Anne's, Sutton and on 1 October he died at Carstairs in Scotland. Broadway has indeed been extraordinarily blessed by the presence at different times of so many holy people: Blessed Bernard Silvestrelli, Passionist Superior General, Father Ignatius Spencer and Elizabeth Prout, as well as Father Bernard O'Loughlin and Father Paul Mary Pakenham whose Causes may also be introduced one day.

Further Renovations In 1863 Father Salvian Nardocci became Rector. Within months he had redecorated the church and built a conservatory for plants and vines. Then in 1865 he was asked by His Royal Highness, the Due d'Aumale and the Duke of Orleans to say Mass each week in their private chapel at Wood Norton.36 Since it was nine miles from Broadway, Father Salvian bought a horse and trap to save J the expense of hiring a carriage every week, as well as for other trips to Evesham etc. To mark the Canonisation of St Paul of the Cross in 1867, the Passionists bought a new organ and laid a new carpet in the sanctuary. In 1872, to increase the accommodation for the novices, the old Benedictine seminary was extended. Brother Osmund Dunn supervised the extension of the novitiate, whilst the glazing and painting were done by Brother Austin Wills. In 1874 there were more renovations in the church and in 1878 a new statue of Our Lady of Lourdes was installed.

Visit Of Blessed Bernard Silvestrelli CP The visit of Blessed Bernard Silvestrelli in 1879 could only have been a cause of joy. Not only was he the Passionist Superior General and a very holy man but he had also been a classmate of St Gabriel of the Mother of Sorrows and so could have given both the novices and the professed Passionists many details about him.

Evesham The Passionists opened a new mission ;>t tvesham in 1887 under the care of Father Alban Cowley. He was born at Upton-On-Severn on 27 January 1828 and educated at Hanley Castle Grammar School. On leaving school, he wanted to become a Catholic. His parents would not hear of it but in 1851 he arrived in Broadway and became a Passionist. In 1866 he was elected Rector of St Saviour's Retreat, an office he held until 1872. During those six years, genial, timid and kindly, he won the esteem of all whom he met. He next spent some time in Paris and then returned to Broadway. In 1887 he was given charge of the mission in Evesham. Thanks to the generosity of an Evesham Catholic, Mr Bicknell, who bequeathed two small houses for the founding of a Catholic mission, Father Alban was able to erect a small, iron, temporary church, which, on account of Our Lady's Apparition and Evesham's subsequent medieval abbey, was called "St Mary's". It was blessed by Dr Ilsley, Auxiliary Bishop of Birmingham on 21 April 1887. At that time there were eleven Catholics in Evesham. As, however, the Rector of Broadway, Father Chrysostom testified at Father Alban's funeral in 1891, "His meek, kindly and sympathetic disposition soon endeared him to all and won the respect and veneration of the inhabitants, at the same time disarming all hostility and jealousy." As a result, he soon received many converts, so that before he retired in 1891 he had a full congregation of eighty Catholics, with a number of others under instruction. He died a fortnight later in Broadway at 3 p.m. on Christmas Eve, aged sixty-four. In his funeral homily, Father Chrysostom also said that Father Alban had made the mission in Evesham and nursed it through trying days. He had loved to watch it grow and he had looked upon those that were there as his children. Because of his zeal and affection he continued to work even when he could do it no longer. His people in Evesham clung to him. He was a priest amidst a faithful and loving people and so it was hard for him to leave them. They reciprocated his love and so he had been allowed to remain, until he broke down and came to his end. The Passionists continued to serve Evesham until it was placed under the diocesan clergy in 1897.

The Golden Jubilee Of 1900 In the meantime the Broadway parish had enjoyed the new initiatives of the introduction of the Apostleship of Prayer on 15 June 1889 and of the Sodality of the Children of Mary on the following 15 August. Otherwise, as it approached the Golden Jubilee of a Passionist presence in 1900, it followed the pattern of a well-established parish. The Golden Jubilee Celebrations began on 4 August, when Bishop Ilsley of Birmingham consecrated a new High Altar of stone and coloured marble, with a Tabernacle of alabaster and at the sides two small figures of St Richard and St Helena. On the front of the Altar was a bas-relief of the Ecce Homo, with the Passionist Sign at one side and the Passionist Rule at the other. The ceremony of Consecration, which began at 8 a.m. and lasted three hours, was, however, tinged with very real sadness, for this beautiful Altar had been donated by the mother of Father Richard Foy, Rector in Broadway from 1896-1899. He had devised it himself and in February 1900 he had travelled fjoin Paris to make the final arrangements, never thinking that he would never celebrate Mass at it, that he would be dead before its Consecration and that it would be consecrated as a memorial to him.

Apart from the new Altar, there were also new statues of St Joseph and St Anthony of Padua and Brother Mark Kangley redecorated the whole church. As it was reported in the Passionist Record of St Joseph's, Highgate, "For Altar-piece, Brother Mark has reproduced the old picture of St Paul of the Cross with new and added beauties and in the side spaces he has given us groups of angels, whose ethereal loveliness and wonderful perspective must be seen to be appreciated. Every part of the church, even the ceiling, has felt the magic touch of his transforming hand, making it lightsome, glowing and devotional." As a finishing touch, the floor and steps of the sanctuary were covered with a splendid pile carpet, presented by Mrs Mackay. During the Consecration Mass Miss Mary Jewsbury, soprano, sang the Ave Maria. She again enhanced the ceremony the following day, when Bishop Ilsley administered the Sacrament of Confirmation to between twenty and thirt-f-, candidates, including adults, a sure proof of the growth of the Catholic Faith in Broadway. This time the choir was also enriched by some other well-known friends of the Passionists, Miss Marguerite Cell, contralto; Leonard Browne, tenor; and Samuel Jewsbury, bass. On this occasion they all sang the Ave Verum, with Charles Slatter at the organ.

St. Saviour's Church, 1900

On Monday, 6 August 1900 the first Catholic bazaar ever held in Broadway was opened by Mrs Navarro, accompanied by her husband and little boy, to raise money for the renovations. Mrs Navarro was Mary Anderson, who had captivated London audiences as a Shakespearian actress. On her marriage to Antonio de Navarro she had retired from the stage and the couple had come to live at Court Farm in Broadway. They were generous benefactors to the Passionists. Their only son, also Antonio de Navarro was educated at Downside and King's College, Cambridge and was the first Catholic Fellow of Cambridge University since the Reformation.41 On the Monday evening, at 5.30 p.m., the children performed Snow White. The bazaar continued on Wednesday, 7 August when it was opened by Lady Agnes Noel, accompanied by Lord Gainsborough. Altogether it made a profit of £200.42.

The Passionist Retreat, 1908

Finally, on 15 September there was a concert in Evesham Town Hall, organised by Mrs Navarro, once more "Mary Anderson charming and bewitching as in the days gone by when the fair actress cast a magic spell over the thousands who thronged to see her." She was joined by Joseph O'Mara, tenor; Arthur Grove, baritone; Miss Fanny Davies, pianist; Henry Lewis, violinist; and ' Mr A. Putnam, harpist, all performers who had gained high distinctions in the musical world; as well as by the composer, Mr J.M. Coward, organist at the Crystal Palace, who played an organ solo. There was a very large attendance and full agreement that it was the best concert ever given in Evesham.43 In all, as the Passionists celebrated their Golden Jubilee in Broadway, the people in the whole area must have been aware of the great impact they had made in those fifty years, for by 1900 Campden and 2v%sham were independent parishes and the Catholic population in Broadway itself had grown to two hundred and fifty.

The First World War It was a sign that the Passionist Congregation was also flourishing that in 1908, under the direction of Father Leonard Baumbach, who later became Bishop of Nicopolis, the original Benedictine house was replaced by a new retreat parallel to the Leamington Road. In 1914, however, the First World War broke out. With the German invasion of Belgium, ninety refugees arrived in Broadway. Even the poorest villagers did their utmost to show them hospitality. Other effects of the war must also have been felt in Broadway as elsewhere, as trench warfare took its toll of virtually every family in the country and naval warfare led to food-rationing.

Between The Wars On 16 July 1929, by kindness of the Navarro family, the Passionists acquired their first car. More renovations were made to the property, especially in 1931-32, to celebrate the centenary of Dom Birdsall's foundation. In 1931 a new system of central heating was installed in the church, whilst a field adjoining the monastery was purchased for £400. The church was redecorated in 1932. Three years later new heating was put into it, with a new floor, oak panelling and, in the sanctuary, stalls for the novices. In 1938 the kitchen was renovated and in 1939 the novices built a grotto in honour of Our Lady of Lourdes. In 1939 the electrical installments in the monastery were renewed and improvements were made to the grounds. Some of these changes, however, were ominous: hen runs were made to provide eggs and ninety fruit trees were planted to supplement the diet, as Britain plunged into the Second World War and Father Leonard McCabe was called up as a chaplain to the Forces.

The Second World War Very soon evacuees arrived from London and Birmingham. On Christmas Day the Passionists organised a party for them, followed by an impromptu concert. On 6 November 1940 the bombs arrived. About a thousand German incendiary bombs were dropped over Broadway and the surrounding countryside, eight of them in the monastery grounds. Not one, however, hit either the church or the retreat. In spite of the war, in 1941 St Saviour's celebrated the centenary of the Passionists' arrival in England under Blessed Dominic Barberi. January 1942 was long remembered for its intensely cold weather and extremely deep snow, during which the Passionists had no heating in the monastery. In February 1943 they supplemented their fruit supply with an additional six cherry trees. By 1944 American Forces had arrived in camps outside Broadway in preparation for the Normandy Landings. Six Passionists, including Fathers Ignatius McElligott and Eugene Kennan, came to give a three days' mission to the Catholics in the USA Vlth Armoured Division. When, in August 1944, a large influx of German prisoners came to the camp at Spring Hill, the Passionists supplied them with Mass and the Sacraments. That same year, as there was no longer any danger of enemy bombing, Midnight Mass was allowed for the first time since 1939.

The Post-War Years In the next few years, as Broadway returned to a more normal life, the graveyard was extended; there was a parish outing to Weston-Super-Mare; and on Christmas Day the Passionists said Mass in their own chapel on a new Altar that held an Altar-stone used by Blessed Dominic Barberi. The year 1949 marked the centenary of his death at Reading and it was a year full of particularly Passionist celebrations which provided the parishioners with a rich devotional life. On Sunday, 27 February Father Pius preached a panegyric on St Gabriel of the Mother of Sorrows and exposed a relic for veneration and for blessing the people. A statue of St Gabriel had been erected in the church, decorated by the novices. On the following day there was Solemn High Mass and in the evening Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament and again veneration of the relic and blessing of the people with it. On 24 March the Master of Novices, Father Benignus, engaged a sculptor in Cheltenham to make a statue of St Gabriel for the novices' garden. Easter Sunday, 17 April provided the best Easter weather for over a century. The church was packed and practically every parishioner received Holy Communion. A few days later, St George's feast was celebrated with a Solemn High Mass. This was quickly followed by a Triduum in honour of St Paul of the Cross, consisting of sung Solemn Vespers, Solemn High Mass, veneration of his relic and blessing of the people with it. May Day Sunday followed as the Sunday within the Octave and so the people again received a blessing with the relic. To mark May devotions Our Lady's statue was adorned by the novices and given a golden crown. The Solemnity of St Joseph fell on 4 May and the feast of the Passionist saint, Gemma Galgani on the 14th. The next day a large crowd gathered in beautiful weather for a procession in honour of Our Lady, culminating in her coronation at the Lourdes Grotto by one of the children. About a week later, a new Crucifix was erected in the grounds, the gift of Father Proudman of Evesham. The Corpus Christi Procession followed on 19 June. At the end of July St Saviour's Catholic Young Men's Society had a day's retreat inside the monastery. The feast of Our Lady's Assumption was celebrated on 15 August with Solemn High Mass, Benediction and the opening of a new gate into the novitiate gardens. It was blessed and opened by Father Benignus, as the novices passed through, reciting the fourth Glorious Mystery of the Rosary: the Assumption. Since the leading novice carried a banner of Our Lady, it was said that she was the first to go through. Hence the gate was to be called "Assumption Gate" or, possibly, "Dominic's Gate" to mark his centenary. On 28 August a coach filled with parishioners left at 9-30 a.m., first for Stone and then for Dominic's tomb in Sutton, where they joined the 20,000 people present for the Centenary Mass. On 18 September the Knights of St Columba from Cheltenham had a day's retreat at the monastery. "Well, Father, Fcfen tell you this. That was the happiest day I have ever spent in my whole life", were the words of one gentleman as he left. In October Father Provincial was asked to preach in Woodchester at the Centenary celebrations of the Church of the Annunciation, established by Blessed Dominic; and finally on Christmas Day Father Rector told the people that 1950 would be the Centenary Year of the Passionists' arrival in Broadway.

The Centenary, 1950 The Centenary Year was also a Holy Year and so it set off to a good start with a Holy Hour followed by Midnight Mass, with prayers of gratitude to God and Our Lady for all the graces and blessings showered on this Passionist foundation and its little parish during the previous one hundred years; and, indeed, it was blessed, with a full monastery of twenty-six in the community, including twelve novices. Next the Rector, Father Chrysostom, assisted by Father Sylvester Palmer, launched a Centenary Appeal to provide a new Lady Chapel in the church, to improve the back of the High Altar and to repair the organ. St Gabriel's statue arrived in good time for his feast on 27 February and was duly blessed and installed in the garden. On 11 June another Passionist saint, Vincent Strambi was canonised and on the 17th a garden fete, opened by Lady Throckmorton of Coughton, was held for the Centenary Fund. On 24 June St Maria Goretti, yet another Passionist saint, was canonised and on the 25th Father Chrysostom preached a panegyric and blessed the people with her relic. At last the Lady Altar arrived, made of Caen stone. The Pieta on the Lady Altar was newly painted and the statues of Our Lady and St Joseph in the sanctuary were repainted. Outside, the graveyard and paths were cleaned up. A Triduum of Prayer, with Rosary, Sermon and Benediction, was held on 5, 6 and 7 September, as 8 September was the actual Centenary of Father Vincent Grotti's first Mass in Broadway.

A novice is clothed in the Passionist habit.

On the Centenary Day Father Chrysostom said Mass at the new Lady Altar and there was a Solemn High Mass at the High Altar at 8.15 a.m. There was Benediction in the evening. After devotions, the front of the house and church were floodlit by a friendly neighbour, George Rastell.

A group of Passionists at Fr Proudman's Crucifix

In preparation for the main celebrations on Sunday, 10 September, a marquee was erected in the field beside the church and the Altar was placed in there, in case of rain. In fact the weather was delightful, as visitors arrived from London, Birmingham, Sheffield, Campden, Cheltenham, Stow-in-the-Wold, Evesham and elsewhere. At 12 noon Solemn High Mass was sung by the Abbot of Douai, Rt Rev. Sylvester Ignatius Mooney OSB, with the Prior of Prinknash as Deacon and a monk of Prinknash Subdeacon. The sermon was preached by Father Brendan Keegan CP, First Provincial Consultor, on the history of the Broadway Mission. The guests were then entertained to dinner and the parishioners to refreshments outside. At 4.30 p.m., after the recitation of the Rosary, Archbishop Joseph Masterson of Birmingham preached on Blessed Dominic and the Conversion of England. As the chronicler recorded, "Many people remained for quite a time, seeming reluctant, as one of them remarked, to tear themselves away from St Saviour's, and many visits were made to the church right up to night-time, when for the last time the Pobdlights were in operation. Indeed, a homely, almost family spirit characterised today's celebration. All seemed to wish to share in the joy and happiness of the religious brethren, in commemorating our first coming to Broadway a hundred years ago."