FROM THE RECTOR

As we begin a new formation year at Oscott there is a sense of anticipation and excitement as we prepare to welcome new seminarians to form a community of formation for the year ahead.

This year we are blessed to welcome eleven new seminarians. Alongside those who are sponsored by their diocese, we are pleased to have one seminarian joining us from the Cardiff Oratory, one from the Vocationists, and one from the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament. Our community continues to become more culturally diverse, reflecting the congregations in local parish communities across the UK. The new seminarians have origins in Hong Kong, Nigeria, the Philipines, India, Germany, and England! We believe that ultimately it is God who brings us together as a community of formation and it is in this context that seminarians grow in deeper discernment, formation, and commitment to the Catholic priesthood.

Belonging to a seminary community requires a fraternal bond – a human bond - that can be likened to familial relationships. In a family brothers are welcomed freely with unconditional love, irrespective of their merits. In family, everything is interpreted within the key of fraternal love, especially when facing challenges.

Within the life of the Church, we speak of a sacramental fraternity, that is, the fraternal bond which is established and renewed through our participation in the sacraments. This means that, in Christ, our duty and responsibility to each other runs deeply. In the seminary community, seminarians deepen their experience and understanding of what it means to live as brothers. Appreciating the term in a way that already anticipates and prepares for the brotherhood of the priestly vocation. To develop relationships that have the positive quality to build up all that is good and true and to confront as one, all that is divisive and harmful.

During the summer it was good to attend the priestly ordinations of those seminarians who have now completed their seminary formation. During the ordination liturgy, each of the priests lays hands on the ordinand and then they also share the sign of peace with the new priest who has become a brother within that presbyterate. In these moments we see something of the new priestly brotherhood that is established through the sacrament of holy order.

The fraternity that is nurtured during the years of seminary formation is expressed in friendship, hospitality, and shared prayer and so many other ways that are also observed in the life of a presbyterate.

It is always inspiring to see the initiatives that are undertaken by seminarians to bring members of the community together - whether it is through sport, a pilgrimage, an academic pursuit, a cultural experience, the opportunity for a meal shared together, or a gathering for prayer. So many different activities such as these “result in the development of that ‘fertile soil’, in which a vocation matures concretely.” (Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis, 2016)

As we begin this new year of formation, we pray that through our shared life and work, all of our new seminarians will experience the joys and challenges of living and growing as brothers in Christ, responding generously to His call to the priesthood.

Canon Michael Dolman

Rector

Each month, we like to pull one small piece of that story into the light. For September, we uncovered the history of our own 19th century Pietà.

The image spread rapidly across Europe from the late medieval period onwards - the most famous example being Michelangelo's, carved for St Peter's, Rome, around 1499-1500. The Pietà is also a conscious, deliberate echo of the Nativity: the Mother once more holding her Son. Our own Pietà is 17th century, probably Italian, and carved from a single block of wood, polychromed and painted by hand. The sculptor set up a deliberate contrast between mother and son: Christ is shown in stark white, a mark of his purity, while His mother was originally painted a rich, dark red - now appearing almost black with age. Look closely at the edge of the Virgin's veil, where traces of that original red and gold are still visible, and at small flakes of gold still clinging to the folds of Christ's cloth. A quiet, sorrowful image and a fitting piece for the month in which we keep the Seven Sorrows of Mary.

There's always more where that came from. If you'd like to see our collection for yourself, come along to a college tour: you'll get to explore the Pugin-designed chapel, the grounds, and the museum, where treasures like this one are waiting to be discovered in person. Upcoming tour dates: 23 September, 7 October, 21 October, 4 November.

Each November, we warmly invite the family and friends of those buried at Oscott Cemetery to join us for our annual Service of the Blessing of Graves: a commemoration of all the faithful departed who rest here.

This year's service takes place on Saturday 7th November at 3pm. It begins with prayers and reflection alongside the whole seminary community in the main square of the cemetery, before family and friends are invited to gather at the graveside of their loved ones, where a priest or seminarian will pray with them and bless the grave with Holy Water.

Many of our guests have found this a deeply moving occasion, and a beautiful opportunity to remember and pray for those they love. No booking is required: simply come along.