For Faithful Service

At Mass yesterday Bishop Alan Hopes presented Mary Aldous with the Diocesan Medal for her dedicated work for the Cathedral. Since the 1970s, Mary has worked in the counting house, and in recent years has recorded and published the Cathedral Mass intentions. As an Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist, she is a familiar figure at Mass; behind the scenes, however, her work has been tireless as it has been essential. Following Mass, a small reception was held in the Clergy House Common Room, which was an opportunity to meet many old friends, and to toast Mary, a quiet, prayerful and loving presence at the heart of the Cathedral community.

The Visit of the Magi

- as recorded in the crib in St Joseph's chapel.

Now and Then VII

The view south from the Campanile has changed dramatically since 1911; although many of the landmarks remain, they are difficult to distinguish in the modern photograph. To begin with the easiest, Vincent Square (to the left) is the playing field of Westminster School, and is also used on occasion by the boys of our Choir School. In the foreground is Clergy House, and the fourth floor terrace - that part of the building faces on to Francis Street, which runs behind the Cathedral complex. To the left of that, running digonally upwards, the yellow-brick appartment blocks are already in place by 1911, and to their left can be glimpsed the roof of the Cardinal Pub (just over the top of the large block bottom left) - although its current name is of more modern origin.

In front of Vincent Square runs Rocherster Row, and the red-brick Police Station and Magistrate's Court (with the gabled roof and round window), recently converted into appartment flats. To the right of Vincent Square, and across Vauxhall Bridge Road, can be seen the curious spire of St James the Less, a red-brick Arts-And-Crafts Church with a chancel fresco by G. F. Watts. The other Church spires of Pimlico can be spotted amidst the modern developments.

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Two major surprises; the tower blocks across the river (the cream-coloured building to the left is MI6, as featured in the James Bond film) which include luxury river-front appartment blocks; more striking is the garden allotments in Francis Street, just behind the Cathedral. It is extraordinary that, as recently as 1911, areas of central London were still open land for cultivation!

Cardinal Vaughan's Plaque

After a long delay, the plaque marking the translation of Cardinal Vaughan's remains from Mill Hill to the Cathedral was installed just before Christmas.

We had wanted to mark not merely the occasion, but the connexion with Mill Hill, the missionary college that he founded. The picture above shows the reburial of Cardinal Vaughan; Bishop Stack is flanked by members of the Vaughan family, and by Fr Mark Connolly, Rector of St Joseph's College, Mill Hill.

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We thought it fitting that it should resemble in style the plaques marking the transfer of the remains of Cardinals Wiseman and Manning to the Cathedral, almost a century before.

The new plaque is near to the tomb (no longer a cenotaph) of Cardinal Vaughan, whose mortal remains now rest in the Cathedral which he founded.

Now and Then VI

The view north from the Campanile shows how things have changed since 1911, when the Campanile was the tallest structure on the London skyline. In the older photograph, Victoria Street is shown clearly leading up diagonally from bottom left towards the Houses of Parliament at the top right. The Victoria Tower of the Palace of Westminster is still clear, as is (further left) the pointed lantern over the crossing between the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The pinnacle of Big Ben is directly behind the left tower of Westminster Abbey.

Further off, however, St Paul's Cathedral - clearly visible in 1911 at the top of the picture - is now only just to be seen squeezed between two dark tower blocks, and dwarfed by skyscrapers beyond. Below it, in 1911, the dome of the Methodist Central Hall is being contructed - it can only be partially glimpsed now between the two dark blocks. This was, briefly, the home of the League of Nations (predecessor of thre United Nations) after World War I. Not much else survives; the mansion block of Artillery Row (centre right) endures, looking rather dark in 1911 but actually faced in light coloured stone. In the centre of the older picture, a bridge links the two sites of the famed Army and Navy Store - the essential stopping off place for any expedition to the furthest reaches of the world. The Store is still there, and a bridge between the two sites, but now manifested in modern blocks (and, more shockingly, rebranded as 'House of Fraser').

Above the central tower block can be seen one of the newer additions to the London skyline, the London Eye - the huge Ferris Wheel which was the scene of a magnificent firework display on New Year's Night. If you enlarge the newer picutre, you will see another newcomer between the London Eye and the top of Big Ben; 30 St Mary Axe, better known (for obvious reasons) as 'The Gherkin'!

All is calm ...

We may be back to work today, but the liturgical life of the Cathedral continues at a lower pace until Epiphany. In the Long Corridor, the cassocks await the return of the choristers next weekend. The tubs on the window sill contain their starched 'eton' collars.

Nova ac Vetera - Now and Then V

For New Year's day, views both ancient and modern. The older photograph was taken from the Campanile of the Cathedral in 1911; the newer was taken yesterday, as close to the original position as I could manage. The view is westwards, towards Buckingham Palace. Indeed. almost the only recognisable item is the Victoria Monument in front of the Palace, with St James Park stretching off to the right. In the recent picture, some of the Palace is still visible, but mostly obscured by the modern development of Cardinal Place. The large shopping and office complex replaces the Stag Brewery, lower left, which itself was an historic link with the medieval brewery of Westminster Abbey.

The curve of Buckingham Gate, running away from the viewer off Victoria Street, is still very clear, and those with eagle eyes will see another survival - the yellow brick Westminster City School (centre right), nestling behind the ugly office blocks of Victoria Street.