Remembering fr Cornelius Ernst OP

Ernst was ordained in Oxford in 1956

Fr Cornelius Ernst’s early death in 1977, aged just fifty-three, cut short a theological career of great promise and significant accomplishment. As the English Dominican Province’s obituarist observes, “[Ernst] was a theologian of rare capacity who never managed to write the books that were in him”. It was not only his early death that limited his theological output, however: the heavy burdens of teaching, together with the administrative responsibilities that he obediently assumed, coupled with the scruples of a perfectionist’s attention to detail, contributed to a sadly meagre literary legacy that has, nonetheless, profoundly influenced the intellectual culture of English Dominican theology.

William Henry Ernst (known as Henry to his family and friends) was born on 16th October 1924 in British Ceylon to parents of Dutch extraction. There were, from an early age, signs of a Dominican vocation. Mrs. Ernst recalled the state of young Henry’s bedroom: “there were books everywhere, and not a single chair to sit on”. On the 8th May 1946, whilst a student at Cambridge, Ernst noted that “it became quite simply and luminously clear” that he ought to become a Catholic (and a Dominican for that matter). Reading Cardinal Newman’s works, loaned by a Jewish friend, had convinced him both that “Christian doctrine needed definition and authority” and that “Christians too were capable of intellectual exploration”. Three years later, Ernst joined the Order at Woodchester, taking the name Cornelius in religion.

Hawkesyard Priory Church

Ernst’s intellectual formation as a Dominican provided a thorough grounding in the Thomistic tradition, which balanced the eclecticism of his undergraduate studies. In 1956, shortly after ordination, he completed the Lectorate, submitting a thesis on St Thomas’s theology of grace and its sources in the Church Fathers. Assigned to Hawkesyard to teach in the Province’s house of philosophy, he served as Master of Clerical Student Brothers from 1958 until his eventual appointment as Lector Primarius (with responsibility for looking after studies there) in 1962. He moved to Oxford as Regent in 1966 and retired as chaplain to the nuns in the Isle of Wight in 1975. Writing in the house chronicle for the morning of 10th November 1959, a student brother noted that Ernst’s morning conference outlined that “students should consider themselves forbidden to smoke the morning cigarette whilst travelling in the habit”, before moving on to “speak at length of the need for recovering a sense of the distinctive tradition of the English Province”, touching on the historical constitution of humanity before rounding the morning’s session off with “a learned discourse about certain aspects of meaning”. Gladly today's Student Master tends to limit himself to treating one major philosophical problem per conference!

Indeed, it was the quest for ‘meaning’ that led Fr Cornelius to join the order and which governed his entire life as a Dominican. His theological writings repeatedly turned to humanity’s quest for meaning, seeing God as the “meaning of meaning” for which we all long. Perhaps his most influential book, aside from a collection of posthumously collected essays published as Multiple Echo, is a small book outlining the theology of grace, in which he suggests that grace can be understood in terms of the new possibilities for meaning that God works in creation.

The Former Carisbrooke Priory as it is today

Cornelius is remembered as a shy brother possessed of an outstanding intellect, theologically creative but yet attached to the traditional contours of the classical Dominican life, funny and yet serious. These paradoxes touched on what he saw as the heart of his faith: a commitment to bringing Christian doctrine into practical contact with the ‘tradition of the human heart’ as expressed in art, novels and our natural desires for beauty, goodness and truth. He wrote, in his private diary, “I cannot allow that God can only be adored in spirit and in truth by the individual introverted upon himself and detached from all that might disturb and solicit his heart. It must be possible to find and adore God in the complexity of human experience.” May he rest in peace.

The Lord's Prayer: 'And lead us not into temptation'.

'The Temptations of Christ' 12th Century mosaic in St Mark's Basilica, Venice, Italy. 

The life of Jesus shows us that victory in the battle of temptation can become possible only through prayer. The 'Our Father' therefore becomes a tool against sin, which results from our consenting to temptation.

We must not forget then that these are the words Jesus gives us, 'Lead us not into temptation'. By asking the Father not to 'lead' us into temptation we are asking a twofold reality to come about: both 'do not allow us to enter into temptation' and 'do not let us yield to temptation'. The letter of James reminds us that 'God cannot be tempted and he himself tempts no one' (1:13). God wills for us to be free from evil. It is our own desire that allows temptation to surface, therefore we ask him not to allow us to take the way that leads to sin.

But are we supported when we ask him to lead us away from being tempted?

Yes. This petition we ask, has a beautiful thread woven in that is subtle, yet strong. We, in the words Jesus gives,  implore the Holy Spirit for discernment and strength.

The Holy Spirit enables us to discern when adversity and trials arise, which in of themselves are in fact necessary for the growth of our inner being. In this discernment we are able to see the differences between 'being tempted' and 'consenting to temptation'. We only desire what appears to be good, the Holy Spirit's gift of discernment allows us to have a reality check. Is what we perceive to be a 'delight to the eye and desirable', actually the opposite, and in reality its fruit is sin, which leads to death. This power of discernment given is not a gloomy reality, it is a way in which the believer is both empowered and transformed joyfully as they journey through life.

Manuscript depicting Origen of Alexandria. 

Origen writes: 

God does not want to impose the good, but wants free beings... There is a certain usefulness to temptation. No one but God knows what our soul has received from him, not even we ourselves. But temptation reveals it in order to teach us to know ourselves, and in this way we discover our evil inclinations and are obliged to give thanks for the goods that temptation has revealed to us'

(De Orationis 29).


The plea therefore, 'Lead us not into temptation' from this most powerful of prayers, implies that we need to make a decision of the heart with the assistance of the Holy Spirit. One of my favourite lines from scripture, which is sung in my weekly prayer, sums up this reality so accurately, 'For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also'. Mt 6:21.

But if the feeling of temptation is too much for me, why does a loving God the Father enable me to feel weighed down with temptation? Again we must remind ourselves what Scripture says... 'No testing has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, so that you may be able to endure it' (1 Cor 10:13).

The Temptation of Thomas Aquinas.

'We do not pray to change the divine decree, but only to obtain what God has decided will be obtained through prayer'. St Thomas Aquinas - Summa Theologiae. 

It is by his prayer that Jesus vanquishes the tempter, both at the outset of his public mission (see mosaic at the top of this post) and in the completing action and struggle of his agony on the cross. In this divine instructive prayer of the 'Our Father' then, Christ unites us with his battle and his agony. He encourages us to be in vigilant communion with his heart. Also, we cannot ignore the collective pro noun here, the word.. 'us' lead... 'us'.  Jesus is teaching us to pray this not only for ourselves, but that of the whole Church. United in his words to the Father, 'keep them in your name'. We are never alone in the battle of prayer over temptation, feel supported when next saying this line in the 'Our Father', that all those saying it are saying it for you and themselves, just as Jesus did, and as we will, in our last temptation of our earthly battle. When praying this line therefore we are ultimately asking for our final perseverance.    

'Lo, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is he who is awake' (Rev 16:15).

Remembering fr Clifford Bertrand Pike OP

During the month of November we remember and pray for the dead. This year, as in previous years we shall be running a series of posts in which we recall the departed brethren of the Order.

Reviewing some of the obituaries of our brothers from the 1950s, it is striking, during this centenary anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War, how life in the Order during this time was profoundly affected by war, with many friars serving with great distinction as military chaplains.

The life of Fr Clifford BertrandPike OP was no exception to this. Born in Bristol on 26 September 1884, one of five brothers, all of whom were educated by the Benedictines at Ampleforth, he was admitted to the Dominican Order at Woodchester in 1905 and made his profession on 27 March 1906. His younger brother Fr Anthony Alfred Pike OP would follow him into the Order two years later. He studied philosophy and theology at Hawkesyard, was ordained priest there on 28 October 1911, and at the conclusion of his studies was appointed to teach in the apostolic school in September 1913.

The following year he was assigned to London where he worked in the parish until 1916, when he became a military chaplain and served in France. He was taken prisoner, but was soon released, and once more took up his duties as chaplain until the end of the war.

Consolation amidst devastation, Mass in the battlefield

Thus in December 1918 he returned to the London priory, and in 1920 he was chosen as Subprior. His next appointment was as Headmaster at Laxton in 1928, but the Provincial Chapter of 1932 made him Vicar Provincial in South Africa. He held this office for three years until 1935 when he was once more assigned to London to work in the Parish.

Salve Regina Procession at the end of Vespers in the London Priory Church 2014

In 1940 he became Parish Priest at Woodchester and Subprior in 1941, but returned to London once more in 1944, where he was to spend the remainder of his life continuously and devotedly occupied with parish work. He died peacefully on 19 May 1954 at the age of 70 with 48 years of profession and 42 of priesthood.

The esteem in which he was held by those who he had laboured so diligently and lovingly for so many years was evidenced by the fact that the vast London church was unable to accommodate all those who came to his funeral. He was buried at the priory cemetery at Woodchester.

Our Father, 'As we forgive those who trespass against us'

It almost comes as an afterthought during prayer. And yet it is not. "Forgiveness is the most underrated virtue", a father tells his daughter in a moving scene in the thoughtful movie Calvary. But forgiving is going to save her life. It is immediately clear that this father is not talking about God's forgiveness, but of our own. Why is forgiving someone who has done me wrong so difficult?

At the end of the parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15: 11-32), we find that there is not only a forgiving father, but also a son, a brother, who needs to forgive. And we can feel for this loyal son. He stayed on, while the other went. He did the work, and the other partied. And slowly his heart must have grown cold towards his brother. And then suddenly his brother returns. And all is forgiven. Really? His father may have lost his marbles, but he certainly has not. And so he refuses to join the celebrations. After a little while, the father comes out to the elder son, encouraging him to forgive and rejoice at the return of his brother. And we are left with a cliffhanger. Will he, or will he not?

When we are hurt, we are tempted to hold on to what we know (the pain) and what we can control (our anger). But we have to let go. It will not be easy. And it will not happen at once. Even the early disciples were struggling with this idea. An obviously exasperated apostle Peter asked Jesus "Lord, how often must I forgive my brother if he wrongs me? As often as seven times?" It sounds reasonable, he is your brother, so you don't throw him out immediately. But surely, after seven times, the message should be clear, right? Wrong! Jesus answered, "not seven, I tell you, but seventy-seven times" (Matt. 18:21-22). Jesus' answer is not about doing the sums, but points to something else: the importance of forgiving itself. Not only for this brother who has done Peter wrong, but also for Peter himself. Why?

For one thing, not forgiving not only means that I block my relation with the other, but also block my self. I will not be free if I cannot let go of feelings of hatred and hurt. It is like a ship that can not leave the harbour because an anchor has not been raised. Feelings of hatred and hurt prevent me from leaving the harbour of self-chosen pity. If I want to sail to the wind of God's love, I have to cut this faulty anchor. I have to forgive unconditionally. So that I can be free to do what He asks of us: to serve Him without fear in charity and love (Luke 1: 74-75).

All Saints - Exsultate Justi!

In England and Wales, the feast of All Saints is being celebrated today (and All Souls tomorrow). With the music of our prayers let us lift our hearts to God, as we praise him with all the saints in heaven.

The following piece, Exsultate justi, is a setting by Ludovico da Viadana (1564-1645) of Psalm 32:1-2:

Exsultate justi in Domino: rectos decet collaudatio. 

Confitemini Domino in cithara. In psalterio decem chordarum psallite illi. 

 Cantate ei canticum novum: bene psallite ei in vociferacione.

Let the just rejoice in the Lord: it is fitting for the upright to praise him.

Sing to him to the psaltery and the ten-stringed lute.

Make him a new song: sing to him well with strong voice.

Sung by the Cantoria Sine Nomine di Castelnuovo (Italy), directed by Carlo Andriollo

Our Father: ‘Forgive us our trespasses’

God creating man, by Michelangelo 

There was once a garden into which man was loved into existence, sharing the image and likeness of his Creator. Born of dust and having the creative breath of God breathed into him, he stood as a unique creature in the artwork of creation. A gulf existed between God and man, the sort of gulf that naturally exists between a creator and his creation; but the two were united by a harmonious bond of love. 

Adam and Eve exiled from Paradise

But man thought it good to overcome this gulf by making himself God, seizing that which was not his by right, thereby disrupting that harmonious relationship which God had willed for His beloved creature. Ever since that maxima culpa by the first parents of humanity, the words ‘forgive us our trespasses’ have ever been on the lips of mankind, shown to us in varied ways through the Scriptures.

So what of these words, ‘forgive us our trespasses’? In the first place, we are reminded that, because of the fault of our first parents, our human will is inclined towards sin—something we call ‘concupiscence’— and we tend to commit sin. Of course, this is not how God created our human nature, but such as it has been since the Fall.

Secondly, in light of our sinfulness, we ought to turn to God for forgiveness, for ultimately all sin is an act of disobedience towards Him, but the remedy for this disobedience is also to be found from Him. This act of turning to the Lord is exactly what our first parents lost sight of in the Garden: they forgot the Lord. Turning to the Lord beseeching His forgiveness and mercy is a recognition in truth of the state of our human condition. We acknowledge our real need for Him. St John Chrysostom says that by our Lord showing us how to pray in this way, we are reminded of our sins, thereby 'persuading us to be modest'. Pride wears many masks and is never far away; modesty will help guard us from it.

In giving us the Our Father, Jesus shows us how to approach the One who loved us into existence, namely, in truthfulness and hope. St John in his epistle says: ‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’

It is more difficult for us to experience the harmony which once existed in that Garden before the Fall; but Christ showed us the way back to Paradise. Just as the downfall of humanity began with a forgetting of its need for God and a loss of sight with regard to its proper relationship with Him, so our Blessed Lord reminds us in the Our Father that the beginnings of our redemption will be found, first, in the recognition that we are sinners, and, secondly, that we need the forgiveness which He readily offers to us out of sheer love for you and for me. So great is His love that He gave to the Church the Sacraments to help us grow into that likeness that was originally lost. What great hope there is for us!

The Holy Father hearing a confession during World Youth Day in Brazil

Dominican Priories: Leicester. 'A history of Tom, Dick and Harry!'

Holy Cross Priory, Leicester. 

When looking upon our modern Priory of Holy Cross, Leicester, it is so easy to forget the rich and varied history that explains its existence today. I am going to attempt to 'dig up' then a little of the history of the Dominicans in Leicester, which along the way 'uncovers' everything you need to know about Tom, Dick and Harry!

The first Dominicans arrived in Leicester around 1247. They soon set up shop, so to speak, in St Clement's Parish Church, which had been given to them by the Augustinian Canons who controlled all of the parishes within the medieval town walls. St Clements was a poor parish that sat neatly between the two arms of the River Soar. It was under the benefaction of two patrons, that of Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester and (get ready for it)... Harry, who liked to be referred to as King Henry III of England.

Manuscript showing the coronation of King Henry III ('Harry')

And so the Priory grew up around St Clement's Parish, which the first friars used as their conventual church. One of the earliest written accounts of this medieval foundation refers to the priory as 'The Blak Frears in the Ashes', not a reference to outcomes of inquisitorial justice, but rather because of the pleasant ash trees that could be found in its grounds.

At its medieval height the community numbered thirty-three strong and hosted a total of three provincial chapters, which shows further the wider importance of Leicester at this time. But alas, the growth of the medieval Priory came to a halt on the 10th November 1538, when the Priory was surrendered to the king's agents as part of the inevitable waves of dissolution. Those among our friars who did not apostatise fled to neighbouring Flanders.

The Dominicans finally returned to Leicester after the Reformation, the new friars coming from Bornhem, which was founded in 1657, in what was then the Spanish Netherlands. The founder went by the name of Phillip Thomas Howard, or Tom for short.

Phillip Thomas Cardinal Howard OP

Phillip Thomas Howard was born in 1629 into the family of the Dukes of Norfolk. In 1645 the young Phillip took the habit of our Order, much to the displeasure of the Earl himself. His purpose would be to restore the English Province, and it was for this reason that he managed to persuade the Master of the Order and the General Chapter to allow him to seek a patron, the Count of Bornhem, to make the first foundation of English Dominicans since the Reformation. He was made Cardinal in 1675 and died in Rome as Cardinal Protector of England and Scotland in 1694.

Bornhem was eventually abandoned as an English Catholic Boys school, a noviciate, and as a study house for the Order in 1794, due to the arrival of the French Revolutionary Army. The Brethren and the Dominican Nuns of Brussels fled to England to the current site of the modern Priory back in Leicester. It was Benedict Caestryck OP who founded the permanent mission of Holy Cross, Leicester, buying land there in 1817, and he began to build the church, which opened in 1819, and a presbytery in 1824. The Parish and the modern Priory took the name of Holy Cross, the dedication of the Priory and Church at Bornhem.

The interior of Holy Cross Priory Church. 

Holy Cross was finally established as a priory in 1882. During this period the friars opened Mass-centres right across the city. Subsequently, all of the Roman Catholic parishes in Leicester find their origin in being Dominican foundations. In 1929 the construction of the Priory Church you see today began under fr Vincent McNabb OP. The conventual church was finally completed and consecrated on 14 May 1958.

Today Holy Cross Priory is the largest parish in the city centre, and also serves a 14th-century chapel in Woodhouse, which has a lively congregation. The current Friars' mission includes two university chaplaincies, that of Leicester and De Montfort; the Catholic University Chaplaincy is thriving in an annex to the priory itself. The friars are also chaplains to the Leicester Royal Infirmary and a local prison; and a healthy relationship is maintained with Holy Cross Primary school, which used to reside on the Priory site.

But where in the name of Richard is Richard III? (aka Dick)

King Richard III

Alas, the finding of the remains of the last Plantagenet Monarch, King Richard III in the city of Leicester could not go unmentioned, in regard to the history that is still being written for our Priory in Leicester.

Richard's remains were found underneath a car park, which used to be the site of the old Greyfriars Church, in the city centre in September 2012. Plans for King Richard's remains to be reinterred in Leicester Cathedral are under way.

For Holy Cross Priory this means:

• on Monday 23rd March, Vincent Cardinal Nichols will celebrate Mass for the repose of the soul (a ‘Requiem Mass’) of Richard III in Holy Cross Church. The Choir from St Barnabas’ Cathedral, the Cathedral of the Diocese of Nottingham, will sing at this Mass, which will be open to the public 
• and On Tuesday 24th March the Dominican friars will sing Vespers, the Catholic Church’s evening service, in Leicester Cathedral; this is in addition to the daily celebration of Mass and the divine office in Holy Cross Church. 
• and finally On Wednesday 25th March, Father David Rocks OP, the current parish priest and prior at Holy Cross Church, will preach at the lunchtime Eucharist in Leicester Cathedral. 

The excavation site where the remains were found.

So there we have it, a potted history of our Leicester Priory, including the likes of Tom, Dick and Harry!

A new window in the north transept of Holy Cross Priory, Leicester which shows the post-Reformation history of the Dominican Order in the city. In the top panel, Christ is surrounded by Dominicans past and present. On the left, a procession of Dominican led by St Dominic and on the right a young friar brings people to Christ. In the bottom panel, Fr Francis Xavier Chappell, OP disguised as a coster selling vegetables, during Penal times when it was illegal for Catholic priests to minister in this country. In his basket he hid his chalice and he initially said Mass in a factory. He served the Catholics of Leicester from 1785-1815. Next along, we see a Flemish Dominican, Benedict Caestryck, who moved to a small house in Wellington Street, where he said Mass. Under his inspiration, building began on the first Holy Cross Church in 1817. This was opened in 1819. Holy Cross was established as a priory in 1882. By 1929 the first Holy Cross church proved to be too small for the congregation. So, in the final bottom panel we see the famous preacher and author, Fr Vincent McNabb, OP who started to raise money for a larger church. Its foundation stone was laid in 1929. - Photograph and description by fr Lawrence Lew OP.