Friday 14 October 2016

On-line shop highlights


Our new on-line shop includes not only a number of religious gifts and souvenirs connected with Saint Jude, but also includes items connected to other important national and Carmelite saints.

For the next few weeks, we're going to show our friends here some special items you can purchase from our new shop.

First up, we have a massive range of Christmas cards and Christmas novena cards available at the shop. All of our Christmas cards are exclusively designed by the Shrine to help raise money for the Shrine and the work of the Carmelites in Britain and worldwide.

We are also selling a brand new Christmas card, which shows a beautiful watercolour painting of the National Shrine of Saint Jude and the church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel at Christmas. Our models for the painting were Fr Piet and Fr Wilfrid. Our shop can be found here, and our Christmas cards can be found by clicking here.






Thursday 13 October 2016

St Edward the Confessor

As a Shrine in Britain, we often remember British saints at our daily Mass. Today is the Feast Day of St Edward the Confessor, who was King of England.

St Edward the Confessor was born in 1003, and was the son of Ethelred the Unready and his Norman wife Emma. He was educated at Ely and then whilst in exile in Normandy,  while two Scandinavian kings claimed the English throne in succession.

He became king of England in 1042, the last of the old Anglo-Saxon line; his death precipitated the Norman invasion of 1066. Commonly known as the 'Confessor', he was regarded as a saint during his lifetime, renowned for his generosity to the Church and to the poor, and because of the readiness with which he listened to his subject's grievances. His relics were translated on this day in 1163 to a new shrine in Westminster Abbey, which foundation he had richly endowed and expanded.

St Edward once made a vow to go on pilgrimage to Rome, but it became difficult for him to keep this promise. Therefore, the Pope released him from his obligation, under the condition that he would restore and or build an Abbey dedicated to St Peter. An ancient abbey in Westminster was already dedicated to St Peter and in need of restoration, so to fulfil his promise to the Pope, St Edward rebuilt what is now known as Westminster Abbey.

On 28 December 1065, Edward's new abbey church was consecrated at Westminster. One week later he was dead.  Nothing remains of the original building, as it was demolished in the thirteenth century. Edward the Confessor's tomb remains well preserved - one of the few mediaeval shrines to survive the Reformation. If you are ever in London, it is well worth a visit.

At least 17 churches are dedicated to him in the UK, and he is depicted in numerous stained glass windows and church carvings - notably at Westminster Abbey, Trinity College Cambridge, York Minster, and at the local Anglican church in Faversham. 
This year, Matt Betts, the National Shrine of Saint Jude's Development Manager will be walking from Faversham to Westminster Abbey, and he'll visit the tomb of Saint Edward the Confessor on arrival. You can sponsor him, here.

St Edward the Confessor, pray for us. 
We have a number of saints prayer cards that can be purchased from our On-line Shop.

Matt Betts

Tomb of St Edward the Confessor






Wednesday 12 October 2016

Photo of the Month - October 2016

Our Photo of the Month is of our current team at the National Shrine of Saint Jude. The team are pictured with the Prior General, Most Reverend Father Fernando Millán Romeral.

From left to right: Fr. Brendan Grady, O.Carm (Chaplain to the Shrine); Mrs Rachael Crockett (Financial and Administrative Assistant); Mr Kevin Bellman (Shrine and Office Assistant); Fr Fernando Millán Romeral, O.Carm (Prior General); and Mr Matt Betts (Development Manager)
The photo was taken at the recent book launch for the launch of Fr Wilfrid McGreal's new biography on the remarkable Carmelite friar from Ireland who re-established the Order's presence at Aylesford Priory in Kent: Fr Malachy Lynch.

Please keep the team and their work in your prayers.

To contact the team, please use one of the methods below:

By post
St. Jude's Shrine Office
Carmelite Friars
P.O. Box 140
Kent
ME20 7SJ

By telephone
From the U.K. call 01795 539214
From abroad call + 44 1795 539214

By e-mail
To send an e-mail (using your usual e-mailing facility) please click here.