Lisbonian January 2011

English College Lisbon

TheLisbonian

Magazine

January 2011

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The Lisbonian– The magazine of the Lisbonian SocietyAll correspondence should be addressed to:

The Editor

Kevin Hartley

8 Hanbury Hill

Stourbridge DY8 1BE

The Lisbonian is the bi-annual magazine of the Lisbonian Society, appearing in January and July, and covers a wide range of topics of current and historical interest.

The magazine is distributed to all members of the Society and to those who have expressed an interest in the College. Articles relating in any way to Lisbon past or present and especially to former students of the College are always very welcome.

Anyone wishing to submit an article for consideration should in the �rst instance contact Kevin Hartley as above or by email:

[email protected]

Lisbonian SocietyCorrespondence relating to the Lisbonian Society should be addressed to the new address

Hon Secretary Lisbonian Society

V Rev Canon Gerard Hetherington, KHS

1st Floor Flat

8 St Peter’s Street

WINCHESTER SO23 8BW


Editorial ............................................................. 4

The New Society Treasurer ................................. 5

Lisbonian Annual General Meeting 2010 ........... 6

Alma Mater – The Lisbonian Society .................. 8

Interview – Dr Michael Williams .........................12

Letters to the Editor ...........................................17

Royal English College – Valladolid ......................19

Good Causes .....................................................24

A Fado to Savour ...............................................27

Re�ections – Looking Back on the Papal Visit… ..28

The Last King of Portugal ...................................29

Street Pastors .....................................................38

Lest We Forget ...................................................39

Contents


The life and times of the last King of Portugal provide a sad coda to momentous times in Portugal. It isn’t known whether Manoel II ever visited a Travessa dos Inglesinhos but the students of those days appear to have continued the quiet tenor of their lives through assassination and revolution as revealed by the article in this issue of The Lisbonian.

The Royal English College of St Alban in Valladolid must rightly be regarded as grander elder sister to our Lisbon College. With royal patronage, �nancial stability – not to mention en suite rooms – it was perhaps inevitable that Valladolid should survive where Lisbon succumbed.

It has been announced that another institution – a cousin establishment – is to close. Readers who have had the opportunity to visit the Lisbon Room at Ushaw will no doubt be concerned about its future security. It is to be hoped that along with the extensive and important collection belonging to Ushaw, the Lisbon collection will be safely preserved for future generations.

Most post-war Lisbonians at some

time or other sat at the feet of Michael Williams in the Divines’ Library. This issue of the magazine carries an article with the Dogma Prof and Vice-President, fondly known for reasons lost in the mists of time as ‘Tippett’. Michael’s interests ranged wide, from dogmatic theology to history, to astronomy, as anyone who listened to his explanations of the night sky on the terrace at Quinta de Pêra can attest, and he isn’t yet lost for words.

The Papal Visit is now for most people little more than a fond memory, and for some a continuing financial burden. The writer of Ref lections adds an individual perspective on the event.

The picture of the beautiful Arches reproduced in this issue, is a poignant reminder of the place where generations of newly ordained priests gave their first blessings to family and friends. Unfortunately, one picture we would like to include remains unavailable. Some years ago there was a promise that a plaque would be affixed to the wall near the entrance to the College, explaining in Portuguese and English the history of the building (see Bill Dalton’s reference in his toast to Alma Mater). Sadly, this has never been realised. Brethren will hope this omission is soon remedied.Kevin Hartley

Editorial

Kevin Hartley your editor welcomes feedback and articles!


After many years of service Fred Robinson has decided to stand down from being Treasurer to the Society. He has seen the accounts through ‘interesting times’ but gone are the days when investments had to be nursed and detailed balance sheets prepared. Thank you, Fred, for all you have done. At the Annual General

Meeting held in Leeds on 6 July 2010 I was appointed to the post. I would like to thank all those who have kept their annual subscription up to date. If you haven’t paid this year’s subscription of £10.00 please make your cheque payable to ‘The Lisbonian Society’ and post it to me at 8, Hanbury Hill, Stourbridge, DY8 1BE.

The New Society TreasurerKevin Hartley

The Arches – English College Lisbon

O Roma Felix, quae duorum Principium Es consecrata gloriouso sanguine! Horum cruore purpurata ceteras Excellis orbis una pulchritudines.

Sit Trinitati sempiterna gloria, Honor, potestas atque jubilatio,

In unitatae, quae gubernat omnia, Per universa saeculorum saecula. Amen

All for One and One for All!

Opinions and views expressed in The Lisbonian are deemed to be those of the contributors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Editors or the Lisbonian Society.


Peter Chappell – PresidentWe met under the genial presidency of Peter Chappell who had breezed in from his exile in Gozo to sample the delights of a British summer. As usual, the Council met in secret session for unde�ned purposes, while oi polloi consumed quantities of Hinsley Hall’s tea and coffee and rather nice biscuits.

When is it a-Coming?And what of the AGM itself? Certainly there was discussion about the possible appearance of the definitive College History – something akin to the expectation of the Messiah. As in previous years,

Annual General Meeting Hinsley Hall, Leeds, 6-7 July 2010 Invited to the FeastAlthough the attendance at the meeting in July was, unlike the economy, slightly up on the previous year, there was much discussion about ways and means of getting more to come to the feast which continues to be provided by the munificence of CaTEW. Strangely Luke 14: 15-24 was not brought in evidence, though all were urged to persuade at least one other member to attend. For those who don’t have any oxen to try out, the dates to be noted are 5-6 July 2011 and the venue will again be Hinsley Hall. It was suggested that perhaps Leeds was too far

away for some of the brethren but no alternative meeting place came readily to mind. Although Hinsley Hall is very comfortable, readers are invited to suggest venues that might be more easily accessible.

© 2010 Peter J Harrison – Hinsley Hall

© 2010 Peter J Harrison – Lisbonian Society President 2010 – Peter Chappell


by kind permission of CaTEW, the Society was able to assist a number of good causes: Santa Maria Education Fund (Paraguay); Sisters of Mercy in Lima; the work of Barry O’Leary in Ecuador, the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre Seminary at Beit Jala, near Bethlehem (you can �nd more details at [email protected]) Reaching the Unreached (India), Fr Casimir (Africa), and the Society of St Peter Apostle; and the Society of Saint Gregory to support the annual James Crichton Memorial Lecture. CaTEW also continues to fund the production of The Lisbonian magazine.

Time Gentlemen Please!Time �ew by, as it does on such occasions, until someone reminded the assembly that the bar was now open, which served admirably to concentrate minds. The movement bar-wise reminded one of the occasion when a student once grandly informed the President that he could not in conscience take the wine that was provided in the refectory because he had taken the pledge (his background was Irish) prior to con�rmation. The decisive response, ‘Well, you are in Portugal now’, quickly put paid to any argument on that score!

© 2010 Peter J Harrison – Lisbonians 2010

© 2010 Peter J Harrison – Frank Austin Jubilarian 2009 missed his photo last year!

Live forever, Alma Mater, be her sons for ever blest…


Alma Mater & The Lisbonian Society

by Bill Dalton

Changing TimesThe times they are a-changing; and we change along with them. Most obviously, hair grows grey or disappears, teeth fall out; and memory slips its clutch like a Toyota for no apparent reason; friends and College contemporaries run out of time, one regularly scans the obituary columns and notes another name with only mild surprise; one’s Christmas card list becomes ever more and

Of Past TimesWe might physically have been in Lisbon but the atmosphere had an unmistakeable echo of the myriad cafés in the Baixa and the suburbs (for those who �nd this comment incomprehensible, see the Interview with Michael Williams elsewhere in this issue – Ed). Conversation ranged randomly from Salt Lakes to Pêra,

from Jim Sullivan to diocesan reorganisation, interspersed with spontaneous commentaries on England’s lack of soccer success/ability.And so to table. The undoubted highlight of the meal was the Toast to Alma Mater and the Lisbonian Society, introduced with indefatigable wit by Bill Dalton, and here reproduced in full.

more manageable. Still, it was something of a shock to realise that with the death of Ronnie Aylward I was the last surviving member of our class.I regard it as completely natural that a ruminant octogenarian’s thoughts should turn to the Dodo. As I presume is well known, the Dodo, like Queen Anne, is extremely dead – its epitaph could rightly accommodate all the epithets bestowed on a bird in the famous parrot sketch. One should be prepared to shed a passing tear at the passing of the Dodo. Apparently a native of Madagascar and Mauritius, the Dodo had enjoyed an Eden-like existence – plenty of food available, no predators to worry about. The latter only appeared in the shape of Sixteenth or Seventeenth century


Dodo Bird – Raphus Cucullatus – now extinct

Dutch or Iberian seafarers. One can appreciate that, unlike the modern cruise ship, their caravels did not provide a varied and sybaritic menu. The occasional island stop-over would have been a heaven-sent opportunity for a different main course. According to one theory, ‘Dodo’ derives from the Portuguese or Spanish doudo meaning ‘stupid’, presumably on the grounds that the dodos, having no previous knowledge of the genus ‘predator’ failed to recognise its bi-pedal species and happily formed a welcoming party on the beach, only to have their heads clubbed and their necks wrung for

their simplicity. Another theory would have it that Dodo is from a Dutch word meaning ‘hard’ or ‘tough’, on the supposition that its �esh hardly rivalled �llet steak. On which hypothesis one would have expected to �nd within the pages of Egon Ronay, instead of the occasional judgement, ‘the meat however was as tough as old boots’, rather ‘tough as old dodos’! In this etymological dispute I tend to side

The meat however was as tough as old boots’, rather ‘tough as old dodos…!


with President Bill Clinton in his robust and dismissive appraisal – ‘It’s Portuguese, stupid!’Although I have dwelt some little time on the circumstances surrounding its sad disappearance from our planet, it is not the dead Dodo that is my concern. Rather, let us take a step back in time and imagine what might have been the psychology and perspectives of the moribund Dodo. Like Sampson bereft of his dreaded locks, or Hannibal’s soldiers dissolute in Capua, centuries of easy living had led generations of dodos to ditch their wing exercises. As �ightless and as earthbound as humans grounded by volcanic ash, dodos would gather in sombre mood for the dawn chorus, intoning sad antiphons – ‘Oh for the wings, the wings of a dove!’, and ‘Where have all the dodos gone, long time passing’, and ‘O my love is not a sailor man!’ Did an occasional individual of limited intelligence and embryonic artistic bent attempt to peck into a rock-face a message for later researchers, such as ‘The Do’s and Don’ts of Dodoism, how not to receive Strangers. Signed: ‘Dodo, a bird

of passage!’ As their numbers diminished, as they hunkered down for the long night, did they hanker for some Superdodo, who would tell the annals of Dododum, of its rise and fall, of the many and varied vicissitudes through which it had lived, of the individuals and series of communities who had fashioned and been fashioned by its continued, if often precarious, survival through the centuries?Another species under threat of extinction would have the wherewithal to inscribe on the boundary wall of their former habitat ‘To the memory of hundreds of men from another land who sheltered here in exile, who grew and learned and were shaped for the service of others in their own country!’ One day perhaps the casual tourist, Michelin Guide in hand, might pause nearby and wonder why this alleyway was named Travessa dos Inglesinhos. Luckily, I – or much more likely one of you – might happen by and be able to explain the force of the enclitic inho. And so, suitable for Jane Austen’s time, one might render it as ‘The passage of our dear little Englishmen’. For these more laddish times, we might turn it to ‘Short cut for those good old English blokes!’To the question, ‘Are they still here?’ the reply would come, ‘Ah no, they were but birds of passage. They have moved on as we all must, my friend.’

In this etymological dispute I tend to side with President Bill Clinton in his robust and dismissive appraisal – ‘It’s Portuguese, stupid!’


Una voce concinamus,Una stirpe proditi

Matrem Fratres salutamusQuamvis longe dissiti

Pulchram piam, acclamamus Vi amoris �lii.

Una �de sociati,Una spe con�dimus –

Filiorum pietatiDebitis honoribus,

Matri et Fraternitati,Crescat laus ex omnibus.

All Together Now!

Live forever. Alma Mater, be her sons forever blessed… Gentlemen, I give you Lisbon Alma Mater and the Lisbonian Society!

It is alleged by some of the pious ladies of the Rua da Rosa and adjacent streets that sometimes, on a still night, if one walks by the old College walls you will catch the sound of a male voice choir, soft but still discernible: it is the assembly-chant of the Inglesinhos as they gather together – ‘Live forever. Alma Mater, be her sons forever blessed…’ It is a call not

© 2010 Peter J Harrison – Lisbonian Society Dinner 2010 –Toasting Alma Mater

to be gainsaid! And therefore, gentlemen, I give you Lisbon Alma Mater and the Lisbonian Society!


Interviewwith Michael Williams

The Booth Line ticket was for the whole journey to Lisbon… but we were told that we would have to continue our journey by train. So we took the tram into Porto and found the train for Lisbon….

Q. Where did you do your studies for the priesthood?

A. I was sent by my uncle to Stonyhurst where I studied Philosophy and Theology for five years, mostly under Jesuit professors.Q. Your uncle?

A. Nepotism! Thomas Williams, Archbishop of Birmingham. When the war ended I went to Rome to complete my studies but then suggested that I might as well stay on and study for my doctorate. So I was four years in Rome. My uncle had died in 1946 and when I returned to England Archbishop Masterson put me into Saltley, a Birmingham town parish, where I remained for three years, until (chuckle) I was head-hunted.Q. Headhunted? That sounds rather dramatic.

A. George Dwyer wanted someone for the Catholic Missionary Society, but there was someone else, a Jim

Sullivan, President of the English College Lisbon.Q. Dif�cult decision!

A. Well, I had known something of Spain and the opportunity to see something of a similar country was attractive, so Lisbon won. Q. You knew about the College?

A. Oh, yes, of course, but I didn’t know anyone from Lisbon. I went out on the SS Hilary, the Booth Line ship, with Benny Ruscillo and three new boys, like myself: Jack McLeish, Peter Ryder and Leon Morris.Q. Leon Morris! That must have been interesting!

A. (Chuckle) Yes, quite! There was another fellow passenger. Father Paul, from Corpo Santo.Q. He wrote, he told us, very good books about Fatima.

A. That’s the one. Anyway, we came ashore at Leixões. The Booth Line ticket was for the whole journey to Lisbon. I can’t remember the details but we were told that we would have to continue our journey by train. So we took the tram into Porto and found the train for Lisbon. We arrived at Rossio in the middle of the night and were met by Jim Byrne and Guazzelli. They took us to a bar


for beer and a prego. Hang on, I thought, it’s Friday. We shouldn’t be eating meat. I didn’t know then about the Bulla. Q. The Bulla?

A. You know, the dispensation granted to Spain and Portugal for services to the Church. Driving out the Moors! So eventually we got to the college. And then there were the ‘Waiting Days’.Q. They were an interesting survival, weren’t they, of the time when an individual turning up at the college had to be vetted before being admitted, in case he was a government spy.

A. Could be.Q. And how did you settle into life in the Bairro Alto?A. It was quite different to anything I had expected. The language, for example. As I said, I knew some Spanish and I didn’t think Portuguese would be all that different. I soon learned! And the culture. You remember José, the Profs’ servant. I had some pictures, nothing special, tourist posters, that sort of thing. I asked him to put them up in my room. And he did, upside down. That struck me quite forcibly. He had no visual concept.

© 2009 Peter J Harrison – Mick Williams in conversation


Q. He had come down from the North to escape being cursed by a witch.

A. I didn’t know that. Quite possible.Q. Were you appointed Vice President on your arrival?

A. Oh, no! Jim didn’t appoint me until the following year, the year Gerry Collins and Mike Horrax were ordained. And Colin Doyle. I had known him at Cotton but he hadn’t been a candidate for the priesthood at that time. That came after the war.Q. I get the impression that the hierarchy weren’t all that enthusiastic about Lisbon.A. I think that’s right. Grif�n was a supporter. I knew him from Birmingham (Bernard Grif�n was ordained in 1924 after studies at Oscott and Rome. He had been Secretary to John McIntyre and had been ordained auxiliary bishop of Birmingham in 1943 and became Archbishop of Westminster in 1943). Heenan was a supporter, too. Some of the other bishops weren’t interested.Q. Did you, the profs that is, have much contact with the local hierarchy?

A. Not really. With the Nuncio, yes. Panico was quite keen to visit the College, I think he was quite keen to get away from the Portuguese clergy. And there was Corpo Santo, of course, we had quite a lot of social contact with them.Q. And with the lay community?

A. Oh yes, the Stilwells, the O’Neills – on the Hilary I had met two of the O’Neills, brother and sister. And there were others.Q. As Vice-President, you were responsible for discipline in the College.

A. Yes. I found the regime quite restrictive, but then it wasn’t very much different anywhere else. I got the impression that, on the whole, students enjoyed life.

I found the regime quite restrictive, but then it wasn’t very much different anywhere else. I got the impression that, on the whole, students enjoyed life…

Inglesinhos’ Transport!


Of course we knew that students went into bars and cafés. It had been the same in Rome. In Lisbon, we just tried to make sure we didn’t go into the same bars as the students!

Q. ‘Café life is still the best!’

A. Of course we knew that students went into bars and cafés. It had been the same in Rome. We weren’t supposed to go into bars but everyone did. In Lisbon, we just tried to make sure we didn’t go into the same bars as the students! One of the great things about Lisbon was that we were a thousand miles from Rome and a thousand miles from England.Q. Students sometimes decided to leave of their own accord, or they were asked to leave. How were decisions like that made?

A. It was very much a collective decision. Jim had a voice but it was the council decision in the end, as I remember it.

Q. And the political situation in Portugal?

A. It didn’t affect us really.Q. The College had always held itself aloof from what was going on politically. The College magazine diary had comments such as ‘machine gun fire in the street, lectures as normal.’

Café life is still the best!’ Pasteis de Nata beyond reach!


The truth was wider than Hervé, but I suppose Hervé provided a framework, a guide to the direction we were supposed to be going in…

The Second Vatican Council had a big influence on Jim Sullivan… He was very positive in his response to what was coming out of the Council, quite liberal, very ready to entertain other views…

A. (Laugh) That’s right. We didn’t think of the regime as seriously oppressive. Salazar had rescued the country from chaos, and the Church at that time regarded the right-wing politics of Italy, Spain and Portugal quite benignly. The Church was authoritarian.Q. You lectured from Hervé but from time to time you threw away the book and gave us an inspired lecture.

A. Yes, well, the truth was wider than Hervé, but I suppose Hervé provided a framework, a guide to the direction we were supposed to be going in. (Hesitation…) That’s the problem with change. What being a Christian means. The introduction of the vernacular, for example. It was no longer enough to just go along… You have to think about the meaning, how it affects you as an individual.

Q. Were the staff ever vetted by Rome, about the curriculum, standards of teaching?

A. (Vigorous shake of the head) No! Never!Q. As a student, I found Jim very remote, with very little interaction with us at an individual level, apart from the compulsory annual Christmas whist-drive. How did you �nd him as a colleague?

A. The Second Vatican Council had a big influence on him. I remember, in the President’s sitting room, tuning in to the latest radio announcements. He was very positive in his response to what was coming out of the Council, quite liberal, very ready to entertain other views.Q. You left Lisbon in 1966

A. Or was it 1967?Q. What motivated you?

A. There were changes consequent on Vatican II. Wider horizons. Charles Davies… I felt that I was perhaps too cosy in Lisbon, I was enjoying myself, with a pleasant life, agreeable surroundings. I didn’t think that the Council was going to change much in Portugal. It was time to be going back to England.Thank you Michael.


Letters to the EditorFrom Mike HorraxMany thanks for the copy of The Lisbonian. The presentation seems to get progress ively better. Congratulations to all concerned!Sincerely, Mike83, Coningsby HouseSandygate GroveShef�eld S10 5TG

From Philip GummettMany thanks for the latest edition of The Lisbonian. It arrived whilst I was in hospital, and I can assure you it cheered me up no end! I was especially interested in three of the articles… ’Pat Cross’ by his daughter; ‘The College Organ’ and ‘Ronald Aylward’. Pat Cross and I were from the same diocese and sailed from Tilbury on the ‘Highland Princess’ (Pat came from East Ham, whilst I lived in Becontree). We had both had to ‘endure’ a grilling from Bishop Doubleday (ordained Bishop of Brentwood 1920) and his Chapter of Canons. It was quite nerve wracking especially for two 14 year-old boys! However we were accepted as candidates and sent off to Lisbon in the care of Pat (Charlie) Hannon later to be ordained in Luz (I think) on the Octave Day of the Feast of the Sacred Heart. He celebrated his �rst Mass at sea, en route back to England. Cornelius Murphy was

also in the party. Unfortunately Pat was rather late in booking our berths so that we ended up being allocated cabins in the Steerage section of the ship – at the stern and over the main engines! Pat always was a bit of a ‘dare-devil’, and we enjoyed each other’s company out in Lisbon, in Luz, in the Quinta and out walking in the countryside. I lost touch with Pat when I returned home in 1943 to join the Royal Navy, but I met up again with him when he was at ‘Simmaries’ – now Saint Mary’s University College Twickenham – studying for his Teaching Certificate. We kept in touch through the Lisbonian Society, especially with the help of ‘Taffy’ Gwilliams, and Victor Guazzelli.C a t h e r i n e G i b s o n ’ s ‘ A n Appreciation’ brought back many happy memories. I think, that although Bill Dalton claims to be the ‘last surviving member of his class’, I was already out in Lisbon when Bill and Ronnie Aylward arrived! If my memory serves me well, I was one of the Waiters assigned to look after Ronnie Aylward and later, Bill Dalton? Perhaps Bill can remember that far back? We were all in Lower House together in ‘Grammar’ before proceeding upwards into ‘Syntax’. I have so many happy memories of my life in Lisbon,


both in the Lower House and then struggling through two years of Philosophy, before deciding (with the help of our Confessor, Fr Enda) that I should come home and have a good think about my vocation. I did and after much prayer and thought I decided that my vocation was to serve the Lord as a layman, although later I had the opportunity of being ordained a Deacon, for which I am truly thankful. And now here I am, a Widower, living on my own, here in South Wales, with 10 children, 23 grandchildren and 16 great grand children, so far!The article on the College organ reminded me of the many times I had to pump the bellows so that our organist could practise, and on the several occasions when Albino, who normally pumped the organ during Mass or whatever, would fall asleep and so the organ would stop playing! Happy memories. ‘Live forever Alma Mater, be her sons for ever blest.’ Indeed! With my fraternal love. Yours in the Lord.Philip11 Glynmarch Street,Deri, Bargoed CF81 [email protected]

From Peter ChappellI enjoyed the meeting but it passed so quickly. I also spent time with friends in Hull and Filey; good weather for both weeks. It was good to see the green �elds and

rolling hills again (also enjoyed the fish and chips!). Naturally, our days here are spent with blue skies and hot sunshine. I really feel settled out here now and am enjoying life: satis�ed to be saying Mass for the English communities. Always nostalgic to see the lads and reminisce. Happy memories!Blessings, [email protected]

From Barry O’LearyI wish to express my gratitude to the brothers for their kind donation last year towards a project on the Ecuadorian missions. I am working on developing a project for people who are mentally challenged. Phase One has already been built and now I am moving on to Phase Two which consists of a permanent home for abandoned mentally challenged people. If anyone would like to come and see for themselves the work that is being done they would be very welcome and I would be pleased to look after them during their stay.Barry O LearyCasa ParroquialPuerto QuitoNor-occidentPichincha Ecuador

LettersT he L i sbon ian we l comes your l e t te r s and e -ma i l s . Correspondence should be addressed to the Editor at the address on page 2.


The Royal English Collegeof St Alban Valladolid

First ImpressionsThe �rst thing that strikes one on opening a copy of the Vallisoletan, the journal of the Royal English College of St Alban, is the glossy professionalism of the production, which re�ects the inherited wealth of an establishment founded in 1589. Unlike Lisbon, which notoriously staggered from one �nancial crisis to another in the course of its three hundred year existence, Valladolid has long been the beneficiary of legacies and donations from Spanish Royalty and aristocracy, with property holdings throughout Castille.The second noticeable thing is the amount of Spanish in the magazine: an article on La Virgen de Los Ingleses also known as La Vulnerata (a statue of the Virgin and Child desecrated by drunken English troops in the taking of Cadiz and now honoured in the College Chapel), another about Los ‘Obispos’ del Colegio de Ingleses de Valladolid – about the seven students of the college who became bishops. One has to remember that students of the College formerly attended the Augustinian faculty of the Pontifical University of Comillas for all their lectures and were required to write their assignments and examinations in

Spanish. They were prepared for this ordeal by being lodged with Spanish families for six weeks for a crash course in the language. Fortunately written work was examined more for its content than its syntax and grammar! Perhaps, too, the Spanish contribution is not so surprising when one takes into account the degree to which the college is integrated in the civic and cultural life of the city. The highlight of the year must be the ceremonies of La Semana Santa, with the college taking an active part in the processions of the Cofradias, the confraternities

La Virgen de Los Ingleses – Valladolid Spain


In 1589… Englishmen in Spain were treated with great hostility, the luckless students were imprisoned on suspicion of being spies…

of Penitentes, culminating in the exuberant celebrations of Easter Day.

First Students ArriveAs in the case of the Lisbon College, albeit much earlier, the �rst students to come to Valladolid were from Douai. In 1589, only a year after the debacle of the Armada, when the presence of Englishmen in Spain was treated with great hostility, the luckless students were imprisoned on

suspicion of being spies, and were only released when the King, Philip II (it seems that Philip’s personal commitment to the foundation of the new establishment was limited to the extent of ‘100 Crowns’) gave permission to Father Robert Persons to appeal for funds in Valladolid as he was busy ‘gathering together such Englishmen as were there and providing for them until the weather and time and other opportunities’ did serve for them to continue their intended journey to England.

‘Weather, time and other opportunities’ might well have been coded references to greater ambitions. Persons was a highly political animal. He had entered Oxford in 1562 and had become a fellow and tutor at Balliol College in 1568. By 1574 his Catholic leanings, as well as quarrels within the college, had obliged him to resign and leave the country. By 1575 he was in Rome where he entered the Jesuits. He had conspired with France and Spain in favour of Mary Stuart and his choice of Spain for the establishment of seminaries could well have been with a view to creating a base for ‘shock troops’ who would follow in the wake of an invasion to ensure a Catholic successor to the heretic Elizabeth. Philip II had, brie�y, been joint monarch with Mary Tudor. On her death he had contemplated marriage with Mary’s sister The Royal English College – Valladolid


Elizabeth and even after that plan had come to nothing, and despite hostile activity against his possessions, he had attempted to maintain cordial relations with England until the �nal straw came with the Treaty of Nonesuch which provided support for Protestant rebels against Philip’s rule in the Netherlands. The attempt to invade England in 1588 had come to nothing but no doubt Philip, who regarded himself as the Chief Defender of Catholic Europe, would be sympathetic to the aspirations of young Englishmen seeking to bring back their mother country to the Catholic fold.

A Multitude of Dissolute YouthsThe ruler of England certainly had no doubts about their intentions. A proclamation made by Elizabeth in 1591 declared that:The King of Spaine, for

furthering of other intentions against England, has dealt with Cardinal Allen and Father Persons to gather together with great labour upon his charges a multitude of dissolute youths to begin this seminary of Valladolid and others in Spaine…

The ‘multitude’ that so threatened her realm was modest enough in reality. In 1591, with the help of funds from Spanish contributors and provided by English exiles in the Low Countries, Persons was able to buy property and

open a chapel in Valladolid. The following year Pope Clement VIII gave formal approval to the foundation. Further colleges were opened: St Gregory’s in Seville in 1592 and St George’s in Madrid in 1610. These latter two were suppressed in 1767 with the expulsion of the Jesuits when their students joined those in Valladolid and Dr Philip Perry became the �rst secular priest of the united colleges in 1768. The Rector is still nominally appointed by the King. Bureaucracy has never moved swiftly: Bishop Challoner had to appeal to Charles III and received restitution for the lost property on the grounds that these did not belong to the Jesuits but compensation for the Seville building was not received until 1964 when it was used to build a new wing that was opened by Cardinal Heenan in 1969).Despite the failure of the ‘Invincible

Rt Rev Richard Challoner ( Bishop of Derbra) from an engraving published in 1781


Armada’ the Spanish still had plans to attack England once more and in 1596 were assembling a �eet at Cadiz when it was destroyed by a force led by the Earl of Essex and Walter Raleigh. Some rioting English solders broke into a church in the town and desecrated a statue of the Madonna and Child, cutting off both arms of the Virgin and leaving only the feet of the Christ Child. The damaged statue was rescued by the wife of the Governor of Castile and taken to her chapel in Madrid. Wishing to

make reparation for the sacrilege, the students and staff of the College persuaded her to take the statue to their chapel where it still is displayed in the reredos and venerated as La Vulnerata.

Regime ChangeIn former times students in Valladolid, as in Lisbon, were only able to return home after three years. Latterly the regime changed to the extent that home visits were made at Christmas and in Summer every year. Similarly, clerical garb was abandoned in favour of civvies. Now, with students only taken for a preliminary ‘taster’ year before carrying on in other colleges in the UK or in Rome, and with lectures being given

Some rioting English solders broke into a church in the town and desecrated a statue of the Madonna and Child…

Royal English College – Valladolid – courtyard


A description of Lisbon’s Quinta de Pêra in its heyday drew a sharp intake of breath from at least one Valladolidian!

in-house, the need to be �uent in Spanish is no longer urgent. This so-called propaedutic year is designed to give men, (there are 29 currently in residence aged between 18 and 50), some introduction to systematic study and catechesis and prayer, a time of discernment leading to a better understanding of what priesthood is about. For many of these men the experience of living in community, with its regular pattern of study, prayer and mealtimes, must be a revelation. Some drop out but the success of the course may be measured by the proportion of students who continue to other seminaries.The staff, mostly former students, consisted of the Rector and Vice Rector, a Theology Tutor and Spiritual Director. There were some lectures in-house, in theology and liturgy. Thomas Holland (later Bishop of Salford), ordained in Valladolid in 1933 began to lecture there in dogmatic theology in 1936 before moving to Lisbon where he continued as a member of staff until 1943 when he became a Royal Navy Chaplain, gaining the DSO for his activities during the Normandy landings. He was not the only link with Lisbon: Matthew Aleworth arrived from Valladolid in 1636; Joseph Blacoe was destined by the Jesuits to study in Valladolid but in 1694 when he arrived in Lisbon in poor health:

‘Mr President Mathias Watkinson charitably proposing to procure a suf�cient alms among ye Portuguese Gentry for his maintainance admitted him into ye house.’

Roll-Call of MartyrsThomas Blount survived six months in Valladolid before being sent back to England and then on to Lisbon in 1635. Thomas was to die in Shrewsbury jail under sentence of death in 1647. Lisbon had her confessors but Valladolid’s roll-call of martyrs, saints and blessed reads like a dramatic sketch of Reformation persecution: Ambrose Barlow, John Lloyd, Thomas Garnett are among the names that roll off the tongue.

A Country RetreatLike Lisbon, the Valladolid College has a country house, though a description of Lisbon’s Quinta de

Pêra in its heyday drew a sharp intake of breath from at least one Valladolidian! The country house, at Viana, is now used mainly for retreats and for visitors. Part of the estate was compulsorily taken for construction


of the high-speed AVE line from Madrid to Valladolid. Interestingly, as Spanish rail track was constructed on a 5ft 6inches gauge (almost identical to the Portuguese gauge) rather than the standard European gauge of 4ft 8.5 inches, the high speed trains that go from Valladolid to serve Hendaye and other places in the north are �tted with adjustable axles.

College AssociationThe Association is strong and active. In June forty stayed

overnight in the Château Impney near Droitwich, and visits to Valladolid appear to be frequent. And, importantly, the Association – not all of whose members are ordained – has a future. It has been agreed that anyone completing the Propaedutic Year may become a member in the year that his cohort comes to ordination, regardless of whether or not he is ordained.

Good CausesEvery year, at the Meeting, the brethren are given the opportunity to designate a number of causes which they would like to see benefiting from the resources of the Lisbon Fund administered by CaTEW. It is good to be able to record the responses of some of the recipients.

Santa Maria Education Fund (Paraguay)To Tony Flynn:

I am writing to you, on behalf of Margaret Hebblethwaite and all those who work for and bene�t from the Santa Maria Education Fund, to thank you for the recent and very generous donation of £500 from the Lisbonian Society, which you have managed to secure for us. We are very grateful for your support, particularly in these times of �nancial stress for so many. The Fund is making a real difference in Santa Maria (Paraguay), and none of it would be possible without your help. You can be sure that the donation is being used as ef�ciently as possible to provide

crucial support for the poorest, brightest, most hard-working students, to help them achieve the potential so desperately needed in Paraguay.Kate Brown, Trustee[ED You can get more information about

the Santa Maria Education Fund by logging in to: [email protected]]

A Project for Mentally Challenged People in EcuadorFor some yea r s the L i sbon ian Society has contr ibuted to the work of Barry O’Leary. He writes:According to a national survey carried out in 2004, 12.14% of the population of Ecuador suffer from some type of handicap.


The proposed project focuses attention on three rural boroughs situated on the coastal region at the foothills of the Andes some three hours travel north west of Quito. Between them they have a population of 36,664 and where the project is to be established there are 4,451 persons requiring attention. At present there are no service facilities in the area and only those who can afford the costs of travel and accommodation are able to �nd provision in the city of Quito.We have conducted a sample survey of disabled people which confirms the need for services to help people with mental handicap, cerebral palsy, Downs Syndrome, hearing deficiency, visual de�ciency and other, mainly physical, handicaps.Between 1992-2005 I was director for social and community services in the diocese of Santo Domingo de Los Colorades before assuming the leadership of the Society of St James the Apostle in Boston, One of the projects which was set up by the Fundacion Accion Social Caritas in 1997 was a centre for mentally challenged children and I continue to maintain contact with the foundation and hold a position on the board of directors. The project continues to function and since 2007 has attracted financial support from central government. In 2009 I and the current director and assistant

director of Fundacion Accion Social Caritas were approached by the government to set up services for mentally and physically challenged people in the rural region of Noroccidente de Pinchincha.The general objective is, through the co-ordination of family, community and social services, to contribute to and promote the quality of life of challenged people so as to strengthen their sense of autonomy and independence and thus enable them to actively participate in society.We aim to develop a planned programme for each individual, consisting of therapy, life skills, occupational skills and social skills, involving their active participation in recreation and sporting activities. Where a person is abandoned due to lack of family support and maintenance, provision will be made through a community project modelled on that of L’Arche. Under my direction a new foundation, called Los Amigos de L’Arche is currently being set up and the members will include parents, a mentally challenged young man, two local priests as well as community leaders.

Reaching the UnreachedPut forward for a grant by Tony Flynn, Reaching the Unreached is a project, led by Brother James Kimpton fsc, to assist deprived people in Tamil Nadu, South India. As well as providing housing and education, 48 remote villages have


been given secure water supplies by the drilling of bore-holes (some going down as far as 300 feet). Isobel Bodger, Administration Assistant of RTU, writes:

‘Thank you very much for the wonderful gift received today from the Lisbonian Society. Brother James has recently celebrated his 85th birthday, with dancing and drama from the children – just what he loves! He was also pleased that once again all the 16-year olds had passed their government exams; and the 18-year old girls had also got good results, with only a few needing to re-sit a subject. On a sadder note, a girl and boy, aged 8 and 6, had been admitted to one of the children’s villages. Their mother had committed suicide; the father

Reaching the Unreached – Drilling for water

had remarried but his new wife and her family wanted nothing to do with these children – what a tragic experience; but they will be cared for and loved at Reaching the Unreached.’

SISTER HEDWIGPeter Codd’s contact with Sr Hedwig springs from the link Portsmouth Diocese has with a Diocese in Cameroon, West Africa, namely Bamenda Diocese (where he spent six years as a Fidei Donum priest). When the link began in 1974, Bamenda Diocese included the region where Sr Hedwig is working, but that region has since become the Diocese of Kumbo.

Hedwig has been heavily involved in prisoner welfare and has visited Bamenda and Kumbo prisons regularly. Hedwig writes to express her thanks for the continued


A Fado to Savour

In the Ju ly 2010 ed i t ion readers were inv i ted to a t tempt the t r ans l a t ion o f a f ado . He re i s An thony Hogar th ’s o f f e r ing .

There are as many words in the fado as to make it a language in itself, words of the sur�ng wave, twisting and turning on the sea, or the twinkling star hovering over the lost rooftops of a town I have always loved.

Those hushed words I sing in the fado speak of lost dreams, promises, journeys of times past… and of fate.

Whichever way I look at it, in truth the fado is to me a story book, a painted masterpiece, sun set over a lost roof of a town I love, the words of the fado as everyday language: breath, love and beautiful light.

support offered by the Society: ‘I am very well and busy with my work. I have been out in 8 villages teaching those living with HIV/AIDS how to cook balanced food for themselves and their children,

Sister Hedwig – and clients from the prison farm

it was nice to see them ready to learn. Father I wish to thank you for your prayers and support. May God give you all you need for body and soul. Please give my regards to those who supported you.’


I watched his reactions to the service in Westminster Abbey, could almost see him thinking, ‘So, THIS is what the Anglicans are like…’

ReflectionsLooking Back on the Papal Visit 2010‘I tell you, I am very proud of the English people!’ The speaker was an elderly Italian lady and she was talking about the visit of the Pope. She is an avid watcher, via satellite, of Rai Uno, the main Italian TV channel, and follows all the reportage regarding the Holy Father, whose Italian she says is ‘perfect, with just a little word now and again, maybe.’ Aged 85 herself, she admires Benedict’s stamina and thinks his smile is ‘lovely’. She dismissed the protest groups as insigni�cant and thought everyone else was great, ‘so happy to see the Pope’, with one exception: the Queen, ‘She looked so miserable, why couldn’t she smile like he did? She only laughs when she is with the horses.’ There didn’t seem much point in suggesting that Her Majesty’s features in repose are not the most animated. But she was right about the Papal visit. I’m not a great one for Papal protocols and Vatican diktats but my reservations melted with the evident warmth

the Pope exhibited during what must have been an exhausting four days. I’m quite a bit off his age but I‘m not sure I would have had the stamina to keep up the round he was subjected to. I think he might have learned a thing or two as well. I watched his reactions to the service in Westminster Abbey, could almost see him thinking, ‘So, THIS is what the Anglicans are like!’ A parishioner commented on how good it was to see Anglican and Catholic bishops sitting side by side, and the Pope imparting a blessing in company with a married man who is officially regarded by our Church as a dressed-up lay person.I’m not convinced about some of the things Pope Benedict is promoting: the encouragement, for example, of Anglo-Catholics to form what looks likely to be a separatist wing of the Catholic Church in England, soul-mate with the Tridentines and the Pius X movement in all but language. I wasn’t happy to see him giving Communion on the tongue, a practice that I grew up with but now find abhorrent. But I can sympathise with him celebrating the Eucharistic Prayer in Latin: he says himself that he is not at ease in English (though he did brilliantly in his speeches during


Contributions to Ref lections are invited, on condition of str ict anonymity, from any member of the Society. The subject is entirely at the choice of the contributor and should be of approximately 500 words in length. The views of the contributor do not necessarily re�ect the editorial policy of The Lisbonian. Ed

the visit) and the Latin would come more easily to him.But now he’s gone back to Rome, what happens next? I remember conducting a �ve-day residential retreat for teenagers, a time of heightened emotions, animated d i scus s ion and a rgument , Masses celebrated with intense concentration. ‘That’s it, now, ‘I said to them as they climbed into their coach amidst tearful farewells, ‘you’ve got to go back to your parishes and bring something of this into ordinary life.’ I can’t

say now how well they succeeded. By the time you read this, the Papal Visit will be four months into history: ask yourself, what has been the outcome?

The Last King of PortugalManoel IIThe New KingAfterwards known as O Patriota, O Desventurado, or O Rei Saudade, depending on one’s political viewpoint, Manoel Maria Filippe Carlos Amélio Luís Miguel Rafael Gabriel Gonzaga Francisco de Assis Eugénio de Bragança Orleães Sabóia e Saxe-Coburgo-Gotha – to give him his full designation – the third child of Dom Carlos I and Amélie of Orleans (the second child, Maria Ana, died shortly after birth) and originally destined for a career in the Navy, Manoel became King of Portugal on 1 February 1908 on the assassination of his father Carlos and his elder brother Prince Luís Filipe in Black Horse Square – Praça do Commércio.

Assassination in the SquareAccompanied by his uncle, the Infante Afonso, Duke of Porto, he had been waiting to greet his father, mother and elder brother on their return form a few weeks’ stay in Villa Viçosa. When the royal party disembarked at Cais de Sodré from the ferry that had brought them across the Tagus, he and the Duke joined their carriage. Two assassins – Alfredo Costa and Manuel Buiça – the latter carrying a ri�e under his coat, burst from the crowd and sprayed the royal carriage with bullets. Dom Carlos died immediately, The twenty-year old Prince Luís Filipe was mortally wounded and the young Dom Manoel took a bullet in the


arm. The Queen was unhurt. A few days later, aged nineteen, the prince was publicly declared King of Portugal as Manoel II.

Late King’s ObsequiesThe College magazine – The Lisbonian recorded the deaths with an effusive eulogy of Carlos and his son. Luís Filipe in particular was described as ‘noble by birth, he was nobler still by education. His Mother had trained him in every Catholic and manly principle.’ Mgr Brindle, Bishop of Nottingham and a distinguished former student of the College, celebrated Requiem Mass for the deceased at St James, Spanish Place, in the presence of the King and Queen and the Prince and Princess of Wales. He later celebrated another Requiem at St Patrick’s Soho, at which Lisbonians assisted.

Revolution and FlightManoel reign was to last little more than two years: on the night of 3 October 1910 the royal palace of Necessitadades was bombarded by the guns of two cruisers under the command of Admiral Reis and on the following day, after the palace had been besieged and street fighting had broken out in the city, Manoel left Lisbon for Mafra where he was to spend his last night in Portugal. On the 5 October, together with his mother and grandmother, he travelled to Ericeira. The party was rowed out to the Royal Yacht (ironically the vessel was by this time Government property having been sold to the State in an attempt to balance the Royal books). The north was considered to be still loyal to the monarchy but it was too dangerous to sail to Oporto and instead the ship turned south to Gibraltar. King Edward VII made his own Royal Yacht available to the exiled monarch who was to find a permanent home in England.

Royal MarriageThere had been talk of Manoel marrying into the British Royal Family – an engagement to the Princess Patricia, daughter of the Duke of Connaught was rumoured and later, during his State Visit to Britain in 1909 Princess Alexandra, daughter of the Duke of Fife was thought to be a likely candidate. King Dom Manoel II of Portugal


In the event, Manoel went into exile a bachelor but in April 1913 he became engaged to Augusta Viktoria, Princess of Hoensollern who, in the familiar way of European royals, was a second cousin. The marriage was celebrated in September of the year with much pomp and ceremony and conducted by the exiled Patriarch of Lisbon. It was unfortunate for both of them that Manoel had, on the way back from his visit to Britain in 1909, stopped off in Paris where he had become enamoured of Gaby Deslys, a royal trophy whom he brought back home with him and settled her in the palace at Bussaco. It was not only her

charms that she had brought with her to Portugal: in June 1910 the king was diagnosed as suffering from syphilis. Whether it was this disease that was the reality behind her alleged kidney infection that cut short their honeymoon in the Black Forest is not recorded. Whatever the reality, the marriage was to remain childless.

Church and State SeparateOne consequence of the revolution was the introduction, the following year, of the Law of Separation of Church and State and a savage assault on long-accepted religious liberties and privileges. The College was inevitably affected. Such were

Royal Marriage – Manoel and Augusta Viktoria, Princess of Hoensollern – September 1913


A savage assault on long-accepted religious liberties and privileges. The College was inevitably affected. Such were the restrictions that would have been imposed by the Law that closure seemed the only option if it were to be implemented…

the restrictions that would have been imposed by the Law that closure seemed the only option if it were to be implemented. The wearing of clerical dress in public was prohibited and, as regards seminaries, the entire academic course was under government control, down to the choice of text-books. Thanks to the efforts of of�cials of the British Legation and Consulate, together with representatives of the German French and Italian diplomatic missions, not only the College but Corpo Santo and Bom Sucesso (Ireland at this time being part of the United Kingdom), as well as the Protestant communities, were exempted from the restrictions.

Back in EnglandThe ex-royals settled at Fulwell Park in comfortable exile, furnished by kind permission of the Republican Government with property from the royal palaces. Manoel was also awarded a monthly allowance of a thousand guineas. The couple

became regular worshippers at St James’ church in Pope’s Grove, donated silverware for use at the altar, silver communion cruets, a ciborium and a silver baptismal shell, as well as stained glass windows to commemorate the 700th anniversary of St Anthony of Lisbon – Santo António de Lisboa, rogas por nós. After Manoel’s death his widow also donated the organ from Fulwell Park. The house was demolished in 1934 and a housing estate built on the site but the road names preserve the memory of the royal couple and their sojourn in Twickenham: Manoel Road, Augusta Road, Lisbon Avenue, Portugal Gardens.

Attempts at RestorationPerhaps Manoel was resigned to his comfortable exile, welcome among the British royalty – he was a Knight of the Order of the Garter and faithfully attended the annual service in St George’s Chapel in Windsor – but there were attempts among the Portuguese Royalists to restore him to the throne. The north was always, and possibly still is, the centre of resistance to republicanism.Royalists had also established a base in Galicia and it was from there that the half-English Henrique Armstrong Mitchell de Paive Couçeiro led an incursion into Portugal, bearing the Braganza blue and white �ag, but


without the Royal crown in an attempt to denote the neutrality of political ambitions. The attempt was doomed to failure from the �rst despite the decision of the Republican War Minister to withdraw troops from the frontier after the armaments that had been gathered in Galicia were seized by the Spanish authorities.On the �rst anniversary of the revolution, the �ag was hoisted over the small town of Vinhais but in the face of the Republican proclamation against anyone who might be tempted to collaborate, Couçeiro decided to retreat to rearm and re-organise in Galicia.A second incursion was launched in July 1912. Several towns in the Minho declared for the Crown; Couçerio appeared in front of the town of Montalegre, causing such panic among the Republicans that their troops withdrew from Chaves. Vila Verde da Raia was taken. But success was short lived. Republican civilians in Chaves beat off the ill-organised attack columns. Five and a half thousand troops were mobilised and the invasions were put down with considerable loss of life; many were wounded and captured but Couçeiro managed to make good his escape back into Spain.

Whose Head on the Coin?Politics, at high level, only marginally touch the mass of the population: it is in the every-day

activities that impressions have to be made on the man-in-the-street. From time immemorial coinage has been used to convey the message and so it was that the new Republic wasted little time in issuing a new currency. Réis, the old fractions of the Escudo were replaced with Centavos, ten Réis becoming one Centavo, and ten Centavos being the equivalent of the old Testão. The royal portrait was replaced by the head of ‘Republica’. So went the legislation, although as late as the sixties in the back streets of the Bairro Alto ‘Milréis’ were still alive and well and urchins still begged for ‘Testões para São António!’ At the same time new postage stamps, allegedly in imitation of the French, were introduced.

Republican In�ghtingCivil disturbance and military revolution was not con�ned to Royalist attempts. The Republicans, having taken over the government of the country proceeded to �ght among themselves. The Lisbonian magazine of June 1915 refers to one such on 15 May, being careful

Royal Standard of Braganza


After breakfast, as students were walking in the garden they could hear shells whistling overhead as the ships in the river fired…

to point out that this was not a Monarchist versus Republican affair but between two republican factions. It seems to have been led by elements of the navy, the uprising being signalled by warships in the Tagus opening �re at three o’clock in the morning.

College Vantage PointTypically, the Inglesinhos thought that this was just the beginning of yet another ‘Festa day’. After breakfast, as students were walking in the garden they could hear shells whistling overhead as the ships in the river �red on the Artilharia Barracks near the Penitencaria. The library was thought to be a better vantage point to see the cruiser

Vasco da Gama in action, though the brave souls did take cover under desks when the guns were �red. At �rst the general opinion was that this was another Royalist attempt to take power but the �ags that could be seen on the ships were Republican, not the blue and white of the Royalists. There was �ghting throughout the city while the Vasco da Gama and other navy vessels ranged up and down, selecting targets for their guns. The Lisbonian records that:‘No one in the College seemed to

take the revolution seriously. Classes went on as usual, sleeping hour as usual. Even the usual evening game went on in the yard, despite the chance of a stray shot �nding its way into the premises.’

It was all over by the evening of the next day, 15 May.

Couracado – Vasco da Gama


Continued UnrestThe peace proved to be fragile. The evening of 5 December 1917 saw the commencement of three days of a far more violent and murderous revolution. Lisbon was thrown into chaos and confusion: no one seems to have had any clear idea of who the opposing parties were and the uproar was further fuelled by the grievances of the city’s poor who took the opportunity to loot shops and stores for foodstuffs – wine and olive oil were said to be running in the gutters – and clothing.

Calm College RoutineAs usual on such occasions, College life continued its habitual rhythm. Rosary and Spiritual Reading, as well as reading during supper were punctuated by loud explosions which seemed to be taking place immediately over the College. The boom of guns and the crackle of ri�e �re continued all night: ‘There was no question of sleep; Morpheus had forsaken the City.’ Despite skirmishes in the Bairro the students and staff maintained their sangfroid: shrapnel damaged windows, food supplies were disrupted and on the 7 December there was only stale bread and potatoes to be had. By the following day the Government capitulated. Sidónio Pais, an army major, assumed the Presidency, as well as the offices of Prime Minister and Minister for War.

The Lisbonian reported that:‘One result of the revolution

has been to make the people happier; they all feel that they can speak freely now, and above all, food seems to be more plentiful. Everything now seems to point to a period of success for Portugal. Let us hope that it will be realised.’

Political UnrestThe hope was not to be. In 1918 there was a General Election, the Monarchist party gaining 39 seats to the Republicans’ 106; there was a left-wing revolt and Pais was assassinated. Couçeiro took the opportunity occasioned by the chaotic state of the country to launch yet another attack, proclaiming the restoration of the Monarchy in Oporto on 19 January 1919. When the War Minister came to Oporto to try to rally the garrison he was arrested. A provisional government was established throughout the north as far as Viseu. Further south, Monarchists brie�y succeeded in occupying the fort at Monsanto but were quickly overcome. With the arrival of reinforcements in the north the Republic was restored and drastic action was taken against all who had participated in the attempted uprising.

The King’s PartManoel’s part in these uprisings is rather obscure. He had urged


Republicans looked forward to a German victory but Portugal eventually declared itself on the side of the Allies…

the Br i t i sh government to recognise the young Republic in 1911, possibly to counteract the possibility of any Spanish intervention (bitter memories of the Spanish rule in the seventeenth century were still lively). He offered verbal encouragement Couçerio’s attempts to force what was claimed to be a neutral return to the monarchy through the ballot box.

Europe at WarDuring the course of the First World War Manoel urged monarchists to cease their agitation. Some of the Republicans looked forward to a German victory but Portugal eventually declared itself on the side of the Allies, largely through fear that Britain might otherwise realise its threat to encroach on Portuguese territory in Mozambique. Manoel offered his services in whatever way was thought fit. Disappointed when all that he was offered was a role in the Red Cross he nevertheless threw himself into participating in conferences, fund drives, visits to hospitals and the wounded soldiers on the front, which ultimately gave him a lot

of grati�cation. The visits to the front were dif�cult for the French government, but his friendship with King George V was suf�cient enough to alleviate their concerns. Regardless, most of his efforts were not credited; years later he lamented, ‘The operating room in the Portuguese Hospital in Paris, during the War, was constructed by me. Do you know what they put on the plaque? “From a Portuguese in London.”’ He was also responsible for the creation of the Orthopedic Department at Shephards Bush Hospital which continued until 1925 to treat the dis�guring effects of the War. A proof of his recognition by the English was when his friend George V invited him to join him in the victory celebrations during the parade of soldiers in 1919.

Restoration or ResignationPerhaps at heart Manoel knew that attempts at restoration were futile. Although regions of the North were staunchly Royalist, the general mood of the country was anti-monarchist. His father’s dictatorial rule had been widely unpopular and shortly before the assassination there had been an attempt to take over the Ministry of the Interior, resulting in the imprisonment of more than ninety Republican suspects. During his brief time as King he had stated that he wished to reign but not govern and for


Manoel, a comfortable life in exile, surrounded by much of the material trappings of monarchy, befriended by King George V and the British aristocracy, respected by the local Catholic population, might well have seemed preferable to an uncertain existence lived out in fear of the assassin’s bullet.

Final Return to PortugalKing Manoel was a keen tennis player and a regular visitor to the annual Wimbledon tournament. On Friday 1 July 1932 he was at Wimbledon. The following day he suffered from a sore throat. He died unexpectedly in his residence on 2 July 1932, suffocated by tracheal oedema. After a Requiem Mass at Westminster Cathedral, the body was moved through Twickenham, where the streets

were lined by school children, to the church of St Charles Borremeo in Weybridge.The Portuguese government, led by Head of State Salazar, authorized his burial in Lisbon, after a state funeral. His body arrived in Lisbon on 2 August 1932, onboard the British cruiser HMS Concord. The body was received at Praça do Commércio where a crowd of people had gathered and the roads were inundated with people interested in seeing the funeral procession. His body was interned in the Royal Crypt of the Braganza Dynasty in the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora.

Royal Crypt House of Braganza – Monastery of São Vicente de Fora


Street PastorsStreet Pastors i s an inter -denominational Church response to urban problems, engaging with people on the streets to care, listen and dialogue. Members of various churches, Street Pastors engage with people where they hang out, on the streets, in the pubs and clubs etc. They are committed to getting to know people, to �nd out their needs and to establish what can be done to help. In this way people know that the Church is there for them in a practical way, not preaching, but listening, working in an unconditional way.The movement was pioneered in London by Rev Les Isaac, Director of the Ascension Trust, and has seen some remarkable results, including drops in crime in areas where teams have been working. There are now over 100 teams around the United Kingdom. Each city project is run by a local coordinator with support from the Ascension Trust and local churches and community groups, in partnership with Police, Council and other statutory agencies. To be a Street Pastor you need to be over 18 (no upper age limit), a church member and able to commit to a 12 session training programme including subjects such as counselling skills, drugs awareness, sociology, knowing the

community, role and responsibility, and street safety. Each Street Pastor team consists of at least two groups of four, each of which will work a minimum of one night a month.One such Street Pastor writes: ‘It has been a rewarding experience, primarily because it is centred around being present for people in their environment. And so it is very much a case of being led and drawn by the people and the situations we encounter, and by God’s grace, by the prompting of the Holy Spirit. It is exciting to be among the buzz which permeates the early evening in the town while people chatter their way to various entertainment venues – to be a friendly and calm presence. By the early hours of the morning the atmosphere is far more charged as hundreds of people pour out of bars and clubs, police keep a very strong presence and taxis dodge pedestrians, now far less ‘safety conscious’ after a night of drinking.’We encounter people who are vulnerable on account of unexpected events eg. having become separated from friends and now having to find their way home alone – we talk and wait with people, and help them arrange a safe way home. People who have got caught up in con�ict


can be given a sense of greater safety and calm – they can then consider the course of action they need to follow next. Week after week people stop to talk about the issues on their mind, relationships, and the meaning of life. There is no doubt that, like ourselves, the people we encounter are searching

for meaning and anchoring in the course of their life’s journey. We pray that they will know fullness of life through their relationship with God.It is our prayer that ‘being there’ when people need, shows God’s care and involvement in people’s lives right where they are.

Someone Loves Us?Through the good of�ces of Simon Johnson, The Lisbonian is now available in Adobe™ pdf on-line (either directly, by entering ‘The Lisbonian’ into your search engine, or through iRecusant). As a matter of interest, Simon Johnson has provided information about the numbers who have used the site. There have been 2264 ‘hits’ – that is people who have clicked on the blog article. 220 have downloaded

a copy as a full PDF. The only other stats that it gives are the locations of the hits: 72% Western Europe (UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Italy …in fact the map is pretty much covered except some Balkan states. 16% USA and Canada. 6% Australasia 3% China a few hits from South America but not enough to make a percentage – that plus ‘Rest of World’ makes up the 3%.

Something for You to Dig Out?Pictures and memories associated with the College and life in Portugal in past and present times are always appreciated to make The Lisbonian more interesting to the readers. Send us your pictures and we can scan them, if of suitable quality, and return them to you if you wish. Ed

Lest We Forget

© Peter J Harrison 2010 – Mgr James Sullivan’s Tombstone, Hinsley Hall, Leeds

English College Lisbon

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Lisbonian January 2011