St Nicholas Owen was arguably one of the most fearless and courageous of the Catholic martyrs of the Reformation. He learnt joinery as a trade and put his skills to use in fashioning the most ingenious priest-holes in England during penal times. Finally he was caught and tortured, giving nothing away to his tormentors. He died under torture. Canonised as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales his story makes fascinating and harrowing reading. How many of us would be prepared to follow the Lord to the Cross in the way he did? Tony Reynolds is the author of a new biography of the saint, published by Gracewing.

Click on the arrow to listen to this talk or go to the image above to find the talk in our free iTunes podcast    46 minutes

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The son of a Congregational minister from Leeds, Rousell David Byles was influenced by High Church ideas at school and then at Oxford. He began training for Anglican ministry during which time he converted to Catholicism and was subsequently ordained a Catholic priest at the Beda College, Rome. He spent some years ministering in Essex before taking a holiday in America to be present at the marriage of his brother. By a chance of providence the ship on which he was due to sail was changed at the last minute and he found himself on the Titanic’s doomed maiden voyage. Eye witness accounts relate how he led prayers and hymns, heard confessions, and led steerage passengers to safety on the lifeboats, twice refusing a place in the lifeboats for himself. Pope St Pius X declared that he died ‘a true martyr for charity’. In this moving talk, Fr Stephen Hoyle outlines the life and death of this hero of the faith with detail and compassion.

Click on the arrow to listen to this talk or go to the image above to find the talk in our free iTunes podcast    45 minutes

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There are approximately 20,000 extant letters written by Blessed John Henry Newman. These have been gathered together in 32 volumes by the long and painstaking work of members of the Birmingham Oratory. Mgr Strange, theologian and Newman scholar, has recently published a book entitled ‘J H Newman – A Portrait in Letters’ through Oxford University Press. In this engaging and informative talk, he speaks of the demanding but richly rewarding work involved in this endeavour and he gives us some fascinating insights into the life and writings of the famous convert and Cardinal of the 19th century.

HOW TO LISTEN TO THIS TALK     Playing time 73 minutes (introduction by Dr Simon P Johnson, ECHA Chairman)

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Glastonbury is the oldest shrine dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary in England, pre-dating the better-known Marian shrine of Walsingham by many 100s of years. Since the destruction of Glastonbury Abbey at the Reformation, the shrine’s Marian origins have been overshadowed by the legends surrounding the person of King Arthur and those of St Joseph of Arimathea and the ‘Glastonbury thorn’. With reference to the archeology, architecture, extant medieval texts and artifacts, Dr Timothy Hopkinson-Ball, vice-chairman of the Glastonbury Antiquarian Society and Project Archivist at Downside Abbey, attempts to unpick the legend from historical fact. In this lucid and informative talk, he shows that there is evidence for a very early devotion to the Blessed Virgin at Glastonbury, which, with the canonical restoration of the shrine in 1955, is continuing to flourish today.

HOW TO LISTEN TO THIS TALK     Playing time 37 minutes

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Dr James Hagerty gives a detailed talk on the contribution of military chaplains in the First World War.  Roman Catholic chaplains were first commissioned for the British Army after the Crimean War, in 1858.  At the outbreak of WWI therefore there were some experienced army chaplains who had served in Boer War and other conflicts between 1858 and 1914.  Accompanying the 80,000 members of the British Expeditionary Force which left for the Western front at the beginning of the First World War were a total of 53 commissioned chaplains, 10 of which were Catholic.   Evidently, this was far from sufficient and the early months of the war saw numerous priests offering themselves to the war effort to accompany the army, navy or air force, as acting non-commissioned chaplains.  They became a familiar sight on the front, on the battle ships, and with our fledgling air force, some paying the ultimate sacrifice as they sought to provide the Sacraments to the living, the wounded and the dying.  Dr Hagerty gives many examples of particular chaplains something of whose lives are known to us.  A moving and informative talk on today’s anniversary of the end of the conflict which many view as the worst in modern times.

HOW TO LISTEN TO THIS TALK     Playing time 63 minutes

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David Jones (1895-1974) was an artist and poet who contributed significantly to Catholic war literature. He was present at the front throughout most of the First World War only leaving the front when wounded, and then returning. His experiences marked his poetry and art for the rest of his life. His best known works are the very long poems In Parenthesis and the Anathemata neither of which are immediately easy to read although there is a narrative flow. Dr Coghill gives an overview of the theology of sacrifice as ‘sign’ as expressed by Fr Maurice de la Taille SJ, which informs David Jones’ writing. She believes his writing can only be properly understood in the light of this theology. Jones became a Catholic in 1919 around which time he met Eric Gill, the typographer, stone carver and artist. Jones subsequently became a member of the Guild of St Joseph & St Dominic – a group of Catholic artists and craftspeople living in community in Ditchling and later, in South Wales. Some time after this period Jones lived alone, convalescing from his war experiences which continued to haunt him, in Sidmouth, Devon, during which time In Parenthesis was published and he began to write the Anathemata. Dr Coghill examines what we know of his 5 years in Sidmouth (1935-40) and argues that this little known period of his life was significant, not least because it allowed his health to improve sufficiently for him to return to London, where he continue to live and work for the rest of his life.

HOW TO LISTEN TO THIS TALK     Playing time 42 minutes

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