'Gregory XVI is Here'

This afternoon I popped over to Westminster Cathedral Hall for the annual 'Towards Advent' festival - which is really a gathering of various Catholic stalls. The best thing about it is bumping into all sorts of friends and acquaintances. I spent an enjoyable hour visiting Southwell Books, Catholic Truth Society, FSSP, Association of Catholic Women, etc.

It was a red letter day for Fr Richard Whinder (Britain's most blogged about priest?) because Fisher Press were launching a new edition of the final part of Cardinal Wiseman's Recollections of the Last Four Popes. Pius VII, Leo XII and Pius VIII have already been produced; now it was the turn of Gregory XVI. This Pontiff has always been something of an obsession for Fr Whinder - he famously began a sermon at the Venerable English College, Rome with the words: 'one of my heroes is Gregory XVI.'

This Pontiff, you will recall, banned railways and street lighting from the Papal States - the former because it would bring bad influences from the Protestant North; the latter because Rome's streets were already lit by the votive lights around the wayside shrines (Madonnelle).

Anyway, Fr Whinder has penned the introduction to the new edition of Wiseman's work. Here is the founder of Fisher Press, Antony Tyler OBE, holding the dramatic notice: 'Gregory XVI is here!'

Here is Fr Whinder and Antony proudly displaying the new book:


And, finally, a pastoral moment from Fr Whinder's book-signing session:

Fisher Press don't have a website (I think Gregory XVI would approve) but they can be contacted at PO Box 41, Sevenoaks, Kent TN15 6YN, UK. Wiseman's Gregory XVI is essential reading for the modern Catholic!