Wales has a long history of Christianity. The martyrdom of Sts Julius and Aaron probably took place in 257-9 in Caerleon. Christianity spread, but while eastern Britain eventually became England through the Anglo-Saxon invasion, Wales remained steadfastly Christian, producing many great Christian leaders, including Sts Illtyd, Dyfrig, David and Teilo, in the “age of the saints”.

The re-organisation of the Church by the Normans saw the confirmation of four Welsh dioceses: Llandaff, St. David’s, Bangor and St. Asaphs. Religious houses were founded by the Cistercians, Benedictines, Franciscans, Dominicans and others, but under Henry VIII, all these were suppressed. Except for a brief period under Mary, the Catholic Church in Wales and England entered a two hundred year period of deprivation and persecution. The “Old Faith” barely survived in many parts of Wales. Large numbers of the Catholic gentry faced penury and imprisonment. Missionary priests educated abroad were hunted down when they returned and ministered to pockets of Catholics in secret, facing the penalty of being hanged, drawn and quartered. Gradually the penal laws against Catholics were eased and in 1829 this culminated in Catholic Emancipation when many of the restrictions on Catholics were swept away.

From 1688 Rome had appointed Vicars Apostolic to areas of Britain. Wales and Herefordshire were part of the Western District, but in 1840 this was divided in two, and Wales plus Herefordshire became the Welsh District. The full restoration of the Catholic hierarchy in 1850 saw the foundation of the diocese of Newport and Menevia with Bishop Brown in charge, followed by Bishop Hedley. In 1895 the reduced diocese of Newport was redefined as the counties of Glamorgan, Monmouth and Hereford.

It was largely Bishop Hedley who planned the event we commemorate this year. In 1916 the Cardiff Province was established, comprising the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Cardiff and the diocese of Menevia. Belmont Abbey was our first cathedral. To commemorate this, there are two events on the weekend of 6-7 February. On Saturday 6th the monks of Belmont sing Solemn Vespers at St David’s Cathedral at 3pm. On the Sunday there is a Pontifical High Mass at Belmont itself, also at 3pm, for which tickets are needed. I have six available, so if you would like to be considered please let me know, preferably by email by this Wednesday.

Fr Matthew

Like me, you were late in coming.
The shepherds were here long before, even the cattle.
They had joined the chorus of angels before you were started.
For you the primordial discipline of the heavens had to be relaxed
and a new defiant light set to blaze amid the disconcerted stars.
How laboriously you came, taking sights and calculating,
where the shepherds had run barefoot.
How odd you looked on the road, attended by what outlandish liveries, and laden with such preposterous gifts.
You came at length to the first stage of your pilgrimage
and the great star stood still above you.
What did you do? You stopped to call on King Herod.
Deadly exchange of compliments
in which there began that un-ended war
of mobs and magistrates against the innocent.
Yet you came, and were not turned away.
You too found room before the manger.
Your gifts were not needed, but they were accepted
and put carefully by, for they were brought with love.
In that new order of charity that had just come to life,
there was room for you, too.
You were not lower in the eyes of the holy family than the ox or the ass. You are our special patrons, and patrons of all latecomers,
of all who have a tedious journey to make to the truth,
of all who are confused with knowledge and speculation,
of all who through politeness make themselves partners in guilt,
of all who stand in danger by reason of their talents.
May we, too, before and at the end find kneeling-space in the straw. For His sake Who did not reject your curious gifts,
pray always for all the learned, the oblique, and the delicate.
Let them not be quite forgotten at the Throne of God
when the simple come into their kingdom.

Amen