Alexander Heriot Mackonochie Aug 11, 1825 – Dec 14, 1887
Charles Lowder, SSC June 22, 1820 – Sept 9, 1880
Robert Dolling Feb 10, 1851 – May 15, 1902
Arthur Stanton June 21, 1839 – March 28, 1913
Lincoln Stanhope Wainright 1847 – Feb 12, 1929
Before the icon
V. The saint gave himself
R. To the work to which he was called
V. Your life and your death
R. Are with your neighbor
A Reading
“A certain brother said, ‘it is right for a man to take up the burden for them who are near him, whatever it may be, and so to speak to put his own soul in the place of that of his neighbor, and to become, if it were possible, a double man, and he must suffer, and weep, and mourn with him, and finally the matter must be accounted by him as if he himself had acquired his countenance and soul, and he must suffer for him as he would for himself. For those it is written, we are all one body, and this passage also informs us concerning the holy and mysterious kiss.’ “ Charles Williams
A collect
We give you thanks for the lives of the slum priests, who gave themselves to the way of sacrifice, discipline, and the beauty of worship; may we be moved to follow their example, in the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Blessed Alexander, Charles, Arthur, Robert and Lincoln; who served the poor of the city in Eucharistic service and liturgy, pray for us.
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Alexander Heriot Mackonochie Feast Day Dec 14, 1887 Project Canterbury
Charles Lowder, SSC Feast Day Sept 9, 1880 (Church of England) Project Canterbury
Robert Dolling Feast Day May 15, 1902 Project Canterbury Ten Years in a Portsmouth Slum (a book)
Arthur Stanton Feast Day March 28, 1913 Project Canterbury Father Stanton of Saint Alban’s (a book)
Lincoln Stanhope Wainright Feast Day Feb 12 Studies in Holiness Father Wainright (a book)
NOTE: As far as I know, other than Fr. Lowder, the slum priests aren’t in any lectionary. For the others I am suggesting the date of their deaths be used.
From The Vision Glorious: Themes and Personalities of the Catholic Revival in Anglicanism, Geoffrey Rowell
On Fr. Dolling’s approach to parish work: “So Dolling was not afraid to be thought vulgar in order that a living faith might be communicated. His congregations could kneel in silence before the Blessed Sacrament, and also sing ‘I need Thee precious Jesu’ to the tune of ‘Home Sweet Home.’ Like many slum priests it was not only the worship which was important to him, but a whole range of other activities which met community needs: communicants’ guilds, a boy’s gymnasium, work amongst sailors, rescue work for alcoholics and prostitutes, and battles for causes such as reasonable hours for shop-girls.” (p. 138-139) On Fr. Lowder and worship: “He considered that it was as much his duty as parish priest to put before the eyes of his people the pattern of the worship in Heaven, as it was to preach the Gospel.” (p.133) On Fr. Stanton when a visitor objected to the smell of incense, "Well," said Stanton, "there are only two stinks in the next world: incense and brimstone; and you’ve got to choose between them." “Decorous restraint and academic discourse were like out of place in the slums. Mystery and movement, Color and ceremonial were more powerful. The Sacramento sign could speak more strongly than the written word. But these were the characteristics of worship in the town parishes influenced by the Oxford movement, that worship impressed through the devotion and holiness of life and pastoral concern of the priests who led that worship. .. they maintained that the riches of Eucharistic worship was not only the legitimate heritage of the Church of England, but that which embodied is nothing else could the sense of the reality of Divine grace in a way which could be grasped by the poor and unlettered.” (p. 117)
In 1866 the new Church of S. Peter in Old Gravel Lane (Now Wapping Lane) was consecrated. Soon afterwards cholera struck the East End, Lowder organised Sisters of mercy and others to care for the sick and raised funds for a tented hospital. The Priests and Sisters took great risks and worked without stint for the people of Wapping. At the end of the cholera people were calling Lowder, ‘the Father’ because he seemed like the father of the whole community. This soon became ‘Father Lowder’, the first known example of an Anglican priest being thus addressed. In 1873 Lincoln Stanhope Wainright came to Wapping as curate to Father Lowder. He was to remain over 50 years in the service of the people here . Father Wainright was a living saint working without stint, giving away the very clothes and shoes we wore. He once discovered a young lad stealing a clock from the Clergy House, persuaded him to have some cocoa in the kitchen, talked to him at length and soon had him serving Mass in the Church and in employment. Fr Wainright died in February 1929 in S. Peter’s Clergy House. The people of Wapping stood in line to climb the un-carpeted stairs to view the mortal remains of one who had been their priest and friend for a life-time. From the website of St. Peter’s London Docks
Urban Liturgy in the Church of England: A historical, theological and anthroplogical analysis of the mid Victorian slum priest ritualists and their legacy By Timothy Richard Stratford. A study of the slum priests with an analysis that draws on liberation theology.
The way of the slum priests influenced priests and their families in the years following. In the late 19th and early 20th century at Saint Elizabeth’s, South Philadelphia, the Companions of the Holy Saviour (CSSS) lived together in the rectory and carried on a ministry of evangelization, pastoral care, and education. They said the Prayer Book Office, celebrated the Eucharist at least twice each week, made a daily meditation, engaged in sacramental confession each month and sought to cultivate a spirit of poverty. Years later in Jersey City, in 1949, Paul Moore and his family moved into the city to serve at Grace Church. Jenny McKean Moore wrote a chapter in “The Church Reclaims the City” in which she presented a version of the slum priest’s “open rectory” — “The majority of the parish lived in substandard housing with unspeakable plumbing and inadequate heat; television and parties were their only respite at home. Even our simple house represented a haven for those who visited it....Caryll Houselander says that the non-Christian works to alleviate suffering but that the Christian must also share in it. I shared in it only in that with my children, I visited people, and they became our friends. They talked with me of the endless broken down toilets that froze in winter, of the rats that attacked their children, of the uncollected garbage that littered the yards and the alleys, and the inevitable urine stench in the halls and stairways. We would sit in the kitchen or the window of the center room of a railroad flat, and although there were constant reminders that they were barriers between us, we had children and the same neighborhood in common. Most of the every day activity in the rectory offends all modern techniques: the unstructured conversations, the giving of food and second hand clothing at the door with a little thought of what you might be made of them(“Won’t he sell the overcoat for some wine?”), the extra guests for supper, the general permissive atmosphere. The Cure d’Ars wrote that we are responsible for the giving of alms; we are not responsible for what is done with them.”
“The Anglo Catholic Inner City Experience” Robert A. Gallagher, OA
Icon writer: Suzanne Zoole Web