Tuesday 1 October 2013

HOLIDAYS

Having completed the Lourdes pilgrimage I returned to the parish briefly to say hello to my supply priest Mgr Teodor Poloczek, do some laundry and to collect the car.
 
From there I journeyed to Wells in Somerset to pick up my travelling companion. Fr. Philip Thomas, the Rector of Wells.
 
From Wells we journeyed across the channel to Douai and the place of the English College.  Sadly most of the churches linked with the English College were either closed or in restoration so there are no pictures.  We did however invoke the prayers of the English Martyrs for dear old England.
 

Rheims Cathedral
Having spent the night in Douai we travelled the next morning to Rheims.  I remember reading a poem for my English Literature Exam entitled 'The Jackdaw of Rheims.'  I can't recall much of the poem now, but it was good to visit the cathedral city that it was based on.
 
Each Sunday and Holyday the Parish Priest is bound to offer Mass for the people committed to his care - the Missa Pro Populo - as it is often called.  Rheims Cathedral was to be the church that Father and I would offer Sunday Mass remembering all the people of our parishes.
 
Rheims is also in the heart of champagne country, so simply because we could, we had a glass of champagne after Mass in the piazza in front of the cathedral. 
 

The Rector of Wells in holiday mood!!!

1 comment:

Phil Thomas said...

The Papist Rector of Wells looks bloody miserable to me, despite having a wonderful holiday and a glass of Champagne after Mass in Reims