• Biographical booklet
• Altar Card
• Golden Jubilee Book

• Rome the Goal of the Oxford Movement
• Loyalty to the Church of England
• The Cart of Abinadab
• Benediction in the Church of England
• Canterbury and York: Two Provinces of Rome

• Meditations on the Spiritual Life
• The Sacrament of Orders
• What is Catholic Authority?
• The Holy Ghost the Source of Infallibility
• The Popes and The Bible
• The Bishops of London and Benediction

THE MINISTRY OF WILLIAM BEATTIE MONAHAN

William Beattie Monahan was born in Ballyshannon, County Donegal, on October 25th, 1867. He was the eldest son of a Methodist Minister, and after studying at Trinity College Dublin, became a Methodist Minister himself.

He served in Cheltenham and Wisbech until 1894 when he was ordained Deacon in the Church of England, and Priested in 1895. He persuaded his two brothers, Alfred, and Thomas to join him in the Church of England. His third brother Charles, remained a Methodist Minister all his life, serving in India where he was awarded an honour for translating the bible.

William served in two Birmingham parishes and was married in St.Paul's Balsal Heath. He then became curate at St. Michael's Coventry, (later to become the Cathedral).

In 1902, he was offered the living of St. Swithun's Worcester. There were no clergy pensions in those days so the retiring Rector took half the income from the Benefice. This meant that William, with a wife and child, received a £150, a year. It would not have been possible without the help of his wife, who had a reasonable income of her own.

St. Swithun' s Church as it now stands was built in 1736, on the site of a former church that was in a ruinous condition. The church has a three-decker pulpit and is one of three in the country which has, on the canopy of the pulpit, a pelican feeding its young from its breast.

This signifies Our Lord in the Eucharist. The Anchor and the serpent represent the church steadfast against the wiles of the devil. Underneath the sounding board is a dove, emblematic of the Holy Spirit guiding God's ministers into the way of all truth, as they preach His Holy Word. It was the only church at the time, apart from the Cathedral, which had an organ and a set of chimes. It is thought highly probable that Handel played on it when he was in England. It is known as a 'G' organ. The two keyboards are very short and this is because the bottom note is a 'G', rather than the usual 'C'. It was donated by William Swift, a local grocer and may well have been in the original church, in 1692.

The church was heated by only two oil stoves and it was not unusual for people to bring a hot-water bottle to church with them.

The high box pews made it difficult to keep order with the children as they could not see over the top of the pews, so the first thing Father Monahan did was to raise the floors in them. This accounts for the present seating being low.

Mr. Lane, the organist at St. Swithun's, asked Mrs. Monahan, at short notice, to play for the Sunday Services. She did so not knowing that the 'Cock and Hen' choir had gone on strike. So, the following week twelve boys were enlisted from the Day School, and rehearsed in St. Swithun Room while an order went off to Vanheem's of London, for twelve cassocks and cottas to be supplied.

All was ready for the next Sunday and the 'Cock and Hen' choir were heard no more. The cassocks and cottas were later taken to St. Martin's and remained there in regular use, for more than half a century.

In 1905, St. Martin's in the Cornmarket was made a Chapel of ease to St. Swithun's, while it awaited demolition for road widening, and a new church was built in the London Road. Pressure was brought to bear on the authorities to dedicate it to one of the Worcester Saints - either, St. Dunstan, or St. Wulstan, but they were so convinced that St. Martin's in the Cornmarket would be demolished, that they dedicated it to St. Martin, and took all the registers, and deeds from Old St. Martin's.

St. Swithun's Rectory was in St. Swithun's Street, but it was in poor condition and over-run with rats. It is now a flower shop, and wool shop. St. Martin's Rectory was next to an abattoir. So, York House, No:67, London Road was rented as the Rectory.

In 1908, their second daughter, Mary, was born and two years later, in1910, Bridget was born. By this time, the house had become too small. Father Monahan, while riding his bicycle, saw a house in Albany Terrace, known then as Moorlands, to let. So, in 1912, they moved in but two years later, when the First World War broke out, they were told that it would be requisitioned for a hospital, unless they bought.

With the help of a Building Society they proceeded to do that.

In 1907, Father William's brother, Alfred, joined him as a curate.

In 1833, the Oxford Movement was founded in an attempt to restore Catholic teaching and practices to the Church of England. John Newman, later to become Cardinal Newman, (author of the Dream of Gerontius) preached the first sermon on this subject, in Oxford on July 14th, 1833. In 1845, he was received into the Roman Church.

The Monahan brothers were supportive of the Oxford Movement, endeavouring to teach, and to practice the seven Sacraments.

William wrote a series of tracts under the title of 'The Voice from Worcester'. The first was: 'Rome the Goal of the Oxford Movement'. The second was 'Loyalty to the Church of England'. The last one was; 'Benediction in the Church of England', which was widely circulated.

Between 1935 and 1942, he wrote, and published, a number of books from the Summa of St. Thomas Aquinas. These had a wide sale and were particularly appreciated by students in Theological Colleges.

It must be said here that Father Monahan devoted his life to working for re-union with Rome. He spoke on platforms in Birmingham, and London, on the subject, with eminent Roman Catholic Clergy.

The Monahan brothers set up a chapel in the Churchyard at St. Martin's, for the Sacrament to be reserved, as the Bishop would not allow it to be reserved in the Church.

They compiled a Prayer Book which was named after the parish, 'St. Swithun's Prayer Book'. Its main object was to teach the Seven Sacraments, and it contained preparation and wording, for Confession, and prayers of preparation and thanksgiving, for Communion. It also contained devotions to the Blessed sacrament and the order of the service of Benediction with the Litanies of The Sacred Heart, and Our Lady.

Much of this was frowned upon by the Bishop, so when Alfred left in 1912 to become Vicar of St. Mary's, Monmouth, William let him take the sale and distribution of St. Swithun's Prayer book. with him. It has since been known all over the World. Alfred Monahan, later brought out St. Hugh's Prayer Book, the Centenary Prayer Book, and the Anglo Catholic Prayer Book which includes the Stations of the Cross, and the Rosary.

In 1910, Father Reggie Kingdon and his brother Claud, were to have taken a Mission in Birmingham, but owing to some trouble with the Bishop, it was called off and they came to St. Martin's, instead. This resulted in them having 100 converts, and confessions. Many, remained faithful to their dying day. Thus it was, that Father Reggie came to preach at Martinmass every year. He wrote the hymn. 'Holy Martin' to be sung to the Austrian Melody.

When war broke out in 1914, the Bishop ordered one of the Churches to be closed. He didn't say which! So, St. Swithun's was closed for the duration and St. Martin's remained open, it being more adaptable for ceremonial, and processions. St. Swithun's has a small chancel, and only one aisle.

As soon as war broke out, the Sacrament was brought in from the outside chapel, and reserved on the High Altar for safety reasons, and for Communion to be given from the Tabernacle in case of invasion.

Benediction became the regular evening service, five evenings a week, and after Evensong on Sundays. How well we all remember the saying, "If you reserve, you must adore".

Father Monahan was Chaplain to Field House, a penitentiary run by the Sisters of Holy Name. One of the sisters, Sister Janet, ran the Sunday School at St. Martin's, and children's, and girls' Clubs, while Mrs. Monahan ran a boys' Club during the week, and a Bible class for boys, on Sunday. During the summer, they met on the Rectory lawn to play bowls. She also took charge of the cricket team, storing the equipment in the Rectory garage as it was handy for them to play down on Pitchcroft.

Sister Janet produced some notable Nativity plays; sometimes, at St. Swithun's Room, or in St. Martin's Boys School and, latterly, in the small hall of the Public Hall, while Mrs. Monahan provided the music with a. choir.

At the back of St. Swithun's Room was a built-in cupboard, on the top of which the choir were assembled, and accompanied by a harmonium. The only approach to this cupboard was by a ladder. It was one thing to climb up, but quite another, to clamber down. On one occasion, Mrs. Brown, wife of the headmaster of the Blind College, became stranded - she was a large woman with a beautiful alto voice, and a strong sense of humour, which did not aid the situation. Eventually, she was almost carried down by Father Monahan.

Father Monahan was also Chaplain of St. Alban's Home, run by the Sisters of East Grinstead. All attended St. Martin's regularly, and once a week. Father Monahan said Mass in their chapel in Diglis Street. It was there that he said his final Mass, and never left his bedroom again.

The Bishops continued to raise objections to Reservation and at a later date, took away Father Monahan's licence for a curate. In spite of this Father Monahan was seldom without a curate and, by the Grace of God, all of them got. livings. Among them was Douglas Cooper, who married Rhona Monahan, George Dallas, Theodore Baldwin (cousin of Stanley Baldwin), Clive Beresford, John Grinstead who became English Chaplain in the Holy Land; and John Milburn who held the interregnum after the death of Father Monahan, in 1948. As his previous Vicar had also died on him, he had no one to give him a reference but Bridget Monahan helped him to be appointed as Vicar of St. Stephen's, Liverpool.

During the interregnum, congregations grew and the regular time of confessions at 3pm on Fridays, still drew people from neighbouring villages for their Easter duties, and together with the parishioners. Father Milburn heard nearly a hundred confessions, that year. The parish desperately wanted him as their future Rector but it is thought, that his name was confused with another John Milburn who was curate at St. Stephen's. So, until he was appointed Vicar of St. Stephen's in Liverpool, he became Chaplain to the Hostel of God, Clapham, run by the East Grinstead Sisters.

Persecutions continued throughout Father Monahan's Ministry and no Bishop would hold a Confirmation in Old St. Martin's.

It is known that when Bishop Pearce was dying, after collapsing on his way to Oxford, that he said, "The Priest who has given me most trouble in my diocese, is Monahan but, I admire him and I have learnt a lot from him".

Many of the parishioners had been Bargees and, though attending the Waterman's Church in Dolday at times, they had never been Confirmed, or had the chance to become Communicants. Mrs. Monahan gathered ten of them from the Mother's Meeting whom the Rector instructed and Bishop Perowne, still refusing to enter St. Martin's, agreed to hold a special service for them at St. Paul's. When one of them was asked if she had been Confirmed, she replied, "Yes. I can show you the marks on my arm, now."

Another, who was rather deaf, when approached about her confession replied, "I've only one fault, and that's my deafness."

When Bishop Cash came to Worcester in 1941, he said "that there was not to be a church in his diocese that he could not visit." He came to preach at Old St. Martin's on condition that the Sacrament was removed from the High Altar, for the occasion. This was readily complied with.

A life sized figure of St. Martin was ordered to be carved in wood, by the Marquis de Tourney. It is believed that he took his model from the Bishop of London, Winhington Ingram. He was so pleased with it that Father Monahan had to go up to London to fetch it, taking with him Mrs. Monahan's cheque, and refusing to leave without the figure.

A beautiful set of High Mass vestments were made by Father Dennis Prideaux, at Pershore, formerly one of the Caldy monks. They later moved to Nashdom.

When Father Monahan came to the parish, he was not happy in the way St. Swithun's Charities were distributed. This was money left by benefactors, for the use of the parish. It was distributed, at random, to the poor of the parish in the form of hampers of food at Christmas, and sacks of coal from time to time. He decided to stop this practise and let the money (which was considerable) accumulate, to build a Parish Hall.

St. Swithun's Room, next to the church was the original Worcester Grammar School, but it was totally inadequate for the activities of the parish. Thus it was, that in 1931 St. Swithun's Church Institute, was built. Some trustees wanted it to become a City Centre with two rooms for ladies, and men, as reading rooms, and a good library. The hall would have been preferable on the ground floor but to give it necessary height, would have been costly. By building it upstairs, it received the extra height by being 'domed' into the rafters of the roof. So determined were the trustees, that it was only to be used for meetings, that the original plans showed no access between the hall, and the stage until the plans were altered and two doors were supplied.

St. Swithun's Dramatic Society, which began in St. Swithun's Room, established itself with great gusto, in the new building with the life of St. Martin, performed in tableaux.

When first performances were in action, the building was plagued by cockroaches which, it was found, were coming from the bakery of the Cadena Cafe. The floors of the dressing rooms beneath the stage, were stained with the crushings of dead beatles - they even fell from the ceiling of the stage during a performance A poison was put down at the rear entrance and each morning, buckets full of dead cockroaches. were swept up.

The building was made full use of with girls' Club, boys' Club, dramatics, after Mass breakfasts; and eventually St. Swithun's Orchestra.

For a number of years, services were resumed in St. Swithun's Church and a large sum of money was raised, to restore the bells and make them usable, again. However, shortly after, it was found that the foundations were in a state of collapse. No money was available from church sources, to repair the damage, so the building, being an ancient monument, was taken over by the Redundant Churches Board and officially closed as a place of worship. Finally, after 70 years of fighting to save St. Martin's from demolition, it once again, became a parish church, known as St. Martin's in the Cornmarket.

Later attempts were made to make it redundant but by amalgamating it with St. Nicholas, and All Saints, it has survived. The Parish is now known as the City Parish. The Catholic tradition remains at St. Martin's with devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, and to Our Lady. Long may it continue as a land mark in the Church of England, and let it not be forgotten how much this is due, to the life work of Father William Beattie Monahan - Sept: 16th, 1998 will mark fifty years since his death.