Catholic London: American Revolution Edition
The Catholic part
Mass for me now happens at the parish of St. James, popularly known as “St. James at Spanish Place.”
This congregation, in one form or another, has existed in England since at least shortly after the martyrdom of St. Robert Southwell. In the 18th century the Spanish moved their embassy to what is now Manchester Square. The building still exists in the form of the Wallace Collection, one of London’s finest art collections.
The connection continues to this day. On that day, some three decades ago now, when we trundled down to the Spanish consulate to pick up our daughter’s passport and papers (I cannot speak to today’s conditions, but back then being Spanish entailed a lot of paperwork), it was to Manchester Square we went.
Even in times when the blood of Jesuits spattered the streets in London, an embassy remained an embassy - that is, foreign territory. Catholics have always worshipped in the embassy chapels of London: Spanish, Sardinian, Bavarian. The present church is the final iteration of those embassy chapels, no longer required since the legalisation of Catholicism in the 1800s:
Spying certainly happened during the American Revolution. We used to be good at it. The Spanish no doubt got up to a bit of it on our behalf right here in London. They were on our side, after all.
I will not dwell much longer other than to point out that Sunday’s glorious Mass commemorated the 400th anniversary of the death of Catholic composer, William Byrd. William managed to be openly Catholic and gainfully employed by Queen Elizabeth herself. Musician that he was, he may have met up with St. Robert Southwell at some point.
In commemoration, the Mass Sunday was Byrd’s Mass for 4 voices. If you have a spare minute or two, dip in anywhere:
William Byrd: Mass for 4 Voices
I will finish up the Revolution in London during the next stretch – this is where I go have a beer after Mass and check in with the Jesuits. One final note, William Byrd died on 4 July 1623, exactly 203 years before our next feature patriot. Until then, I remain
your devoted Papist,
Peregrinus