A special ceremony in Preston Old Cemetery, 2 pm., Sunday, 7th. September, 2008
August 1st, 2008 by Parish House
“Remember, Lord, those who have died and have gone before us marked with the sign of faith.”
As many people know, the former St. Augustine of Canterbury Catholic Church was closed in 1984 due to structural problems with the ceiling and roof. It was declared redundant in 1985 by the late Bishop Brewer. The Parish and the Diocese of Lancaster were then faced with a problem: what to do with a Grade II* listed building that was no longer needed and which, it subsequently proved, no-one wanted to buy.
Many years of extensive and detailed consultation and negotiations resulted in what is now the St. Augustine’s New Avenham Centre, which was officially opened by H.R.H. the Duke of Kent on 14th. March, 2006. The Centre is a magnificent facility offering sport, fitness, health, conference, business, creche, I.T. and learning opportunities for the local and wider community.
One of the many physical obstacles to the re-development, presented by the former church and its steeply sloping site, was the presence of the parish graveyard in the are which now forms part of the upper car park of the Centre. A permit was granted by the Home Office to exhume the remains of those who had been buried there in the years 1837 to 1866. Their remains were re-interred, towards the end of 2003 and the early part of 2004, in a large plot, purchased in the Catholic part of the old Preston Cemetery adjacent to Miller Road. This year, the present parishioners of St. Augustine’s have commissioned a dignified granite memorial stone to mark their re-burial.
This memorial stone was blessed in a special ceremony at 2 p.m. on Sunday, 7th. September. Canon Dunstan Cooper, who was himself baptised and ordained a priest in the former church, preached a beuatiful homily and the ceremony was attended by parishioners, former parishioners and members of the Congreation of Christian Brothers [two of whoe forebears were formerly buried in St. Augustine’s graveyard]. A short address, in tribute to the Christian Brothers who had worked in St. Augustine’s Parish, was given by Brother Edward Egan [see below]. After the ceremony, people were invited back to St. Augustine’s Parish House in St. Austin’s Place for refreshments and the opportunity to view an exhibition of the parish’s history which had been wonderfully presented by Rosa Molloy with help from Teresa O’Neill and Jack McGinty.
Copies of the order of service for the ceremony are available from St. Augustine’s Parish House.
A Tribute to Deaceased Christian Brothers in Preston
The first Christian Brothers came from Ireland to England in 1825. They had been sent by Blessed Edmund Rice, the founder of the Congregation, to minister to the poor Irish diaspora who had left Ireland to seek a livelihood in foreign lands. Brother Ignatius Barry was appointed the first Novice Master of the English novitiate, established in 1839 in Fox Street, which attracted many young men, from Ireland and England, who were intent on devoting themselves to the Christian education of the poor. Most of these novices were sent to other missions in England, in London, Manchester, Liverpoo9l and Sunderland and some went to missions in Ireland.
The Brothers worked in St. Wilfrid’s school from 1825 to 1847, when they moved to St. Augustine’s and worked there until it was decided, in 1875, to withdraw the Brothers from England.
Brother Ignatius died in 1854, aged 51, ten years after Blessed Edmund, who had opened the mission in Preston. Blessed Edmund had written, “Pray that God may direct us in the choice of those we are to send and that, as now the English mission is open to our Institute, He will afford us every blessing.”
The only other Brother buried in Preston was Brother Dominic Hennessy who was described as a “novice of great promise” on August 4th. 1843, but who, whilst bathing with other Brothers in the River Ribble, was tragically drowned on August 5th. the following year, aged just 17.
The Brothers returned to England towards the end of the century and were asked by the Hierarchy to conduct secondary schools to form an educated Catholic leadership. This mission was accomplished during the twentieth century producing bishops, priests, religious, members of Parliament,, administrators, businessmen, B.B.C. notables, writers, poets, artists and sportsmen in England, Scotland, Gibraltar and Africa.
In recent times, the schools have been entrusted to devoted boards of bishops and lay people and the Brothers have responded to calls from the margins of society, poor developing countries and the campaigns for justice and the integrity of the environment. The English communities are part of the European Province with its headquarters in Dublin. Brother Eddie Coupe, a native of Leyland, is on the leadership team. Brother Chris Brown, from Hurst Green, has worked with underprivileged children for most of his life in England, Scotland and Gibraltar.
We also have a community in Geneva, co-operating with the Presentation Brothers and the Franciscans, to be advocates for the rights of children and the integrity of creation in the United Nations Organisation.
Brother Martin Flaherty writes from Dublin: “The story of our Brothers in England is an important one and testifies to the pioneering spirit of the early Brothers. It also throws a light on the social history of the Irish in Britain after the famine. It confirms our commitment to being with the poor and of the importance of education in uplifting the downtrodden. I believe it contributed significantly to a stron Catholic laity in Britain.”
May Brothers Ignatius Barry and Dominic Hennessy, and all the Brothers who worked in Preston, rest in peace - They who instruct others unto justice shall shine like stars for all eternity.”
Brother Edward Egan, 7th. September, 2008
Brother Edward Egan also writes …
On Sunday, 7th. September, 2008, a small gathering of parishioners from St. Augustine’s parish, Preston, and six Christian Brothers from Liverpool, Manchester and Trafford, took part in the blessing of a Memorial Stone for the deceased Catholics who had been interred in the cemetery of St. Augustine’s but had been transferred in 2003/2004 to Preston Old Cemetery.
A beautiful liturgy had been prepared and the leaders of the liturgy were Canon Dunstan Cooper and Father Michael Murphy. Brothers Chris Brown, Edward Egan, George Gordon, Joe O’Sullivan, Dominic Sassi and John Sullivan, along with Mr. Wilf Hammond of the Edmund Rice family, were happy to be present at this moving ceremony where Brother Ignatius Barry, the first Novice Master in England, and Dominic Hennessy, a novice who drowned in the River Ribble the day after the end of his novitiate year, were commemorated, along with the many parishioners of St. Augustine’s who died and were buried in the parish between 1837 and 1866. How many there were is not known but, as Canon Dunstan told us, “30,000 Catholics per month were recorded as attending the church in those days”, so presumably there were many interred during those thirty years.
A pleasant tea was enjoyed in St. Augustine’s Parish House and Mrs. Rosa Molloy told us that she had lived in the house in St. Austin’s Place that had formerly been the house inhabited by the Brothers during Brother Barry’s time.
