LATIMER, Bishop of Worcester, in his oft-quoted letter to Cromwell, Lord Privy Seal, named in particular five of the more celebrated English statues of Our Lady; Worcester, Walsingham, Islington, Ipswich and Doncaster; and that of PenRhys in Wales. Whether or not his letter did in fact influence their fate, which seems by then already to have been determined, the statues were taken to Chelsea where, within a short time of his writing, they were burned, together with many others whose titles remain for the most part unrecorded.
With the desecration and sweeping away of Our Lady's shrines accomplished, little did Latimer or his associates reckon that a day would come centuries later when, in a realm more tolerant, and with an active Catholic population as great as in their own day, those very shrines might be restored, to become fresh centres of ardent devotion. Nor did they dream that those shrines would again be thronged as of old by pilgrims from every quarter of the Catholic world, often from lands and peoples of whose existence Englishmen four hundred years ago were still unaware.
There were, indeed, to Latirner's knowledge, various other shrines of Our Lady in England and Wales that were highly popular in his time. Nor may one suppose him to have ignored them. In his own diocese there were Evesham and Tewkesbury, Pershore and Winchcormbe; and as the Bishop made his way to London on various occasions, he must have passed the Shrine of Our Lady at Blackfriars in Oxford, well beloved of St. Edmund. A short detour would have brought him to Willesden, to that shrine so much frequented by Londoners. At Westminster there was Our Lady of Pewe awaiting him and, close by the Tower, that of Our Lady of Graces, today represented by a gracious little shrine in the church of the English Martyrs, Prescott Street. Yet Latimer named none of these. For him the list he gave sufficed, and that for some underlying reason.
Why did he name them and not the others?
For reasons best known to himself, the six shrines which Latimer named were obnoxious to Cromwell. By naming them especially, Latimer sought to bias him still further against the ancient and national devotion to the Mother of God.
At Worcester, for example, the Bishop seems to have been delightedly horrified at the discovery, if ever "discovery" there was, that, when it had been disrobed, the statue of Our Lady of Worcester had proved to be merely one of some ancient bishop. Forgetting that, in any case, it was not so much the image that was revered but the Mother of God represented thereby, he did not diminish his expressions ofdisgust at such "deceit". In fact, beyond the certain knowledge that the statue was unusually large, -there is now little information available as to what it really looked like. If the representation of Our Lady on the conventual seal may be taken as a guide, there. can be little doubt but that there was a strong Byzantine influence in its design, sure token of its antiquity. A generation ignorant of such iconographic details might easily have mistaken for a mitre what may well have been a Byzantine tiara, of the type which appears in certain early Roman representations. It suited Latimer's purpose to accept, and represent, a policy of deliberate fraud, one which had lately been publicised, and which may well have been fresh in Cromwell's mind.
The Shrine of Our Lady of Grace of Ipswich had in recent years been vouched for by St. Thomas More, in his Dialogue concerning Heresies. It had been Wolsey's intention to incorporate the Shrine Chapel into his short-lived College of St. Mary, and he had ,ordered a yearly pilgrimage to be made there.
Pen-Rhys was certainly much in Cromwell's mind. The mountain shrine stood on land which for centuries had belonged to Llantarnam Abbey, which was granted to Thomas Williams, Cromwell's own nephew.
Walsingham, too, was painfully familiar to Cromwell. The initial attempt to sweep away the ancient sanctuary which meant so much to English hearts had met with sharp protest. Then men had dared to hold public meeting to seek out ways of appealing their case to the King. The sub-prior, Nicholas Mileham, and the chief spokesman, George Guisborough, had been sentenced to death for treason after the flimsiest of trials in Norwich, and had been butchered in front of the Walsingham Priory gate. Nine others involved in what had been so maliciously dubbed "rebellion" had been slaughtered and quartered in other parts of the county, where they were regarded as heroes.
For similar reasons Doncaster was quite as familiar. There, at Whitefriars, in the very Friary where Our Lady of Doncaster was enshrined, Robert Aske had taken up residence during the period of his negotiations concerning the Pilgrimage of Grace, which had so nearly cost Cromwell his job.
Further more, just as a wonderful cure had been recorded by St. Thomas More as having been vouchsafed at Ipswich, (the case of the twelve-year-old daughter of Sir Roger Wentworth) so, recently, the wife of Robert Leche had been wonderfully saved from drowning after invocation of Our Lady of Doncaster, and the fame of the story was still fresh.
Latimer must have known that Cromwell would have disliked all that, and it was shrewd to have slipped the name Doncaster into his list. He chose those names because he hoped thereby to create an unfavourable impression against them all.
The full text of the story of the saving of Mistress Leche is recorded in the Kenyon MSS., issued by the Historical Manuscripts Commission, under the heading of A 'curious account of a reputed Miracle. As it is one of the most substantial of any such accounts preserved to us from the old Catholic days, showing that our forefathers' reactions were the same then as those of our Catholic brethren today, wherever Our Lady is revered in Catholic lands abroad, it may be well. to quote from the text in question. It runs: -
"Be it known to all Christian people that on the 15th day of July, I524, that as one William Nicholson of Townsburgh (some three miles from Doncaster) should have crossed the river (Don) at a ford at Seaforth Sands with an iron-bound wagon with six oxen and two horses, laden with household stuff, having in the said wayn or wagon one Robert Leche, his wife, two children (one child being half a year of age, the other being under seven years) set his servant Richard Kychyn upon the forward horse; and when past midstream, due to wind and rain, all were driven down stream; the first horse was drowned and the wayn and all was upset, with the wheels upside down.
"Then did the company all call and cry out to Almighty God and Our Blessed Lady, whose image is honoured and worshipped in the White Friars of Doncaster. Each in turn managed to call upon Our Lady and be saved; but Robert Leche's wife, carried three hundred foot and more midstream, and the wagon rolling over and over, and she in it.
"All people on land did kneel, and prayed that if ever Our Lady of Doncaster showed miracle, she would show some grace upon this woman. And saved she was; shouted out that she did right well for God, and that Our Lady of Doncaster had saved her.
"And that these premises be true and not feigned, William Nicholson, Robert Leche and his wife and children, came to Our Lady of Doncaster upon St. Mary Magdalene's Day next after, and did declare this gracious miracle, and it was sworn upon a book before the Prior and Convent with various witnesses named.
"And at that day this gracious miracle was rung and sung in the presence of three hundred people and more.
DEO GRACIAS. "
How direct and simple, and convincing, is the tale; as vivid and convincing as many of those quaint and simple ex-voto pictures which hang in such profusion round many of Our Lady's well-loved sanctuaries abroad. Whatever more formal decision might have been reached by some canonical enquiry, it was indeed a miracle for Mistress Leche and her friends, and for such she, and all around her, were happy to acknowledge their gratitude, with ringings of bells, and the singing of the Te Deum and other hymns of praise.
From the above account it is clear that the Shrine of Our Lady of Doncaster was attached to Whitefriars, i.e., to the Carmelite Friary which then stood in a large space of land, some acres in extent, the front of which is today marked by the present busy Priory Place. It is known that there were great monastic buildings and that the property extended to High Street on one side, and to St. Sepulchre's Gate on the other, following along Printing Office Street, which 'was then the town moat, and Cleveland Street as far as the Reindeer Hotel. A Tudor visitor who saw it called it a "right goodly house in the middle of the town". When Rev. Joseph Hunter wrote his History of Doncaster, he remarked that a terrace walk made by the friars was then still visible. Excavations on the Post Office site in Priory Place revealed much stonework and one of the cell windows. Skulls and bones unearthed towards St Sepulchre's Gate at various times have indicated where the Friary cemetery lay, and an underground passage, apparently authentic, seems to have existed for internal use, connecting various parts within the Friary enclosure.
Doncaster, as other towns in England, held Our Lady in veneration from an early date. In 1194 the town acquired by Charter the rights of an annual fair, held on the "Vigil, Feast and the Morrow", of the Feast of the Annunciation; which Charter was confirmed by Henry VII in 1505. There were chantries of Our Lady attached to the great church of St. George, and the most beautiful of the town's gates was dedicated to St. Mary. When Leland visited Doncaster he found four of the gates still standing, and wrote that of them, "St. Marie Gate is the fairest".
Doncaster, situated on an important river crossing, had been a place of importance from Roman times. They had protected the crossing with a fortified castra, Danum. When, later, a fine stone bridge of five arches was built across the river, a beautiful Chapel of Our Lady was erected at the southern end, and this seems to have given the name to St. Mary's Gate. But there is no record of the existence of any particular shrine of Our Lady of Doncaster prior to the founding of the Carmelite House; which gives rise to the surmise that the devotion began subsequent to the White Friars arrival.
The Carmelite Friary of Doncaster was founded by John Nicbrother (John Nightbrother of Eyan) in the quarter of the town then known as Hall Gate. Co-founders were Richard le Ewere and, by reason of their patronage, the King (Richard II) and John of Gaunt, his uncle.
November 30th, I350, licence was granted for alienation in mortmain by, "John son of Henry Nicbrothere de Eyoun and Richard le Ewere of Doncastre to the Carmelite Friars who are coming there to dwell in the town of Doncastre, of a messuage and six acres of land there, to build thereon a church in honour of St. Mary and houses to dwell in". So, I350 would appear to be the recognised date of foundation; yet, even so, there is an earlier, and so somewhat curious, record. In I346 a bequest was made by Roger de Bankewell, Rector of Dronfield, who was said at that time to -have been living in seclusion at Doncaster Friary. This does not preclude the possibility that the Friars had already arrived in the town by then, but hints that they were living elsewhere.
From the first, their Doncaster house became one of importance, due perhaps to its position on the North Road. A Provincial Chapter of the Order was held here in 1376 and, during the Pontificate of Boniface IX, two of the Community were- appointed Papal Chaplains: i.e., in the years I398 and 1402
In I473 an interesting case of early incorporation occurs when, on December I3th, a grant was made to, “John Sutton, Prior, and the Convent of the house and church of St. Mary, Doncastre, co. York, of Carmelites, which is of the foundation of the King's Patronage, that they shall form one body with power to plead and be unpleaded, and shall have perpetual succession and a common seal, and grant to them of licence to acquire lands, rents, and other possessions, not held in chief, in frank almoin, to the value of £20 yearly”.
Doncaster afforded an excellent stopping place on the route north from London to Scotland and the Border, as the Romans had found when they built Ermine Street. Henry VII, in his all-important progress North after his coronation came from Nottingham to Doncaster on a Saturday. The following day he heard Mass before the Lady Shrine. There were good reasons for his visit . Apart from his own sincere devotion to Our Lady, shown in so many other ways, here was a Shrine which claimed, technically at least, to have John of Gaunt as a founder.
As the male line of the descendants of John of Gaunt by his wife Blanche of Lancaster had ended with the death of Edward, son of Henry VI, at Tewkesbury, Henry Tudor inherited the Lancastrian claim.
On the other hand there were rivals who upheld the claims of the House of York, and to end this rivalry both Houses of Parliament had petitioned Henry to marry Elizabeth of York. He was now about to visit the county; and Doncaster was very much a Yorkshire shrine.
A few years later, June I3th, I503, his elder daughter Margaret made her own progress to Scotland, to become Queen of James IV, whom she married two months later. She was met ceremonially on her arrival in Doncaster and lodged at Whitefriars, where she was introduced "according to precedent custom". The implication of that is worthy of note. Other royal visitors to the Shrine had included Henry of Bolingbroke (Henry IV), in July, I399, and Edward IV, 1470.
When the young King Edward V was brought from Ludlow to London for his intended coronation, his protectors, Anthony, Earl Rivers, (Elizabeth Woodville's brother, and so the young King's uncle Lord Richard Grey, were arrested by Gloucester at Northampton and sent to Pontefract Castle. As soon as Gloucester had taken the throne for himself Rivers was executed, shamefully, at Pontefract. Before he died he bequeathed his heart to Our Lady of Pewe at Westminster; but the hair-.shirt which he always wore in penance he bequeathed to Our Lady of Doncaster, and in due course it was laid before her Shrine there.
This was but one, if the strangest, of many bequests to our Lady of Doncaster by noble personages. The following examples are cited as being typical of the practices of those days. Then, too, people delighted to provide the means for the burning of lamps and tapers in honour of Our Lady.
It was also a pious custom to leave specific directions as to the place of burial they wished for. Many such benefactors chose their favourite shrines of Our Lady for this, wishing for nothing better than to be laid to rest in the protection of her sanctuary.
In I449, Constance Bigod, widow of Sir John Bigod of Settrington, left her girdle worked with silver and gilt to Our Lady of Doncaster. Roger de Bankewell, already referred to, was in fact buried close to Our Lady's Shrine, in 1366.
Later there were buried here Sir Robert Welles and his wife and, at her own request, in I484, Margaret Cobham, wife of Ralph Neville, second Earl of Westmorland. Her tomb was of such beauty that it was spared at the Dissolution and was removed to the parish church.
In I482, Sir Hugh Hastings, then on an expedition against the Scots, thought it prudent to make provision, and left funds to provide wax to be burned during Mass before Our Lady's altar here. But he returned safe, and his Will did not become effective until his death in I487. In 1506 his daughter-in-law, Katherine, following in the same tradition, left to Our Lady of Doncaster her "tawny chamlett gown". One supposes that the rich material with which it was made was cut up into vestments, after the manner of the times, with which the statue was arrayed.
The Northumberland Household Bookcontains the following entry: -
"Item: My Lord useth and accustomyth to paye yerly for the fyndynge of a light of wax to birre befor our Ladye in the Whit-Frers of my lordis foundation at Mastyme dayly throwout the yere sett befor our said Ladye there. To be paid to the prior of the said hous for the hole yere for the fyndynge of the said light. To be paid ounes (once a yere, xiii s. iiii d. )"
Nor may one forget the simpler gift of Alice West of Ripon, who gave Our Lady of Doncaster "my best bedes".
In time for Princess Margaret Tudor's visit, another gift of interest was made. John Twisilton left a silver gilt crown, token that he acknowledged the Queenship of Our Lady in this her shrine so much visited by, royalty.
And, of interest in comparing Doncaster with Walsingham, the following entry occurs in the Expenses of Henry VIII:-
“1517, April. Sir Geoff. Wren, clerk of the closet, for a taper of wax burnin before Our Lady of Doncaster, four years, 4 I."
But the King's Taper availed Doncaster no more than did his great Candle at Walsingham.
In the meantime, the Doncaster Whitefriars had continued since its foundation, for almost two hundred years, to play an important part in refuting the general calumny of universal neglect by the clergy of the time, religious as well as secular. The House produced a steady flow of keen and able men devoted to the mission; not least of these being John Marrey, noted for his disputations against Wycliffe; John Colley, likewise an able preacher; John Sutton, who was Provincial in his day; and Henry Parker.
This last was a Doctor in Theology of Cambridge, the Aristarchus of his day, a celebrated preacher, noted for his life of evangelical poverty, and author of one of the most popular fifteenth century manuals of religious instruction, the dialogue Dives et Pauper.
In a sermon at St. Paul's Cross, Friar Parker chanced to make an invidious comparison between certain beneficed clergy and friars who were followers of Christ's poverty. Against this, William Ive, of Whittington College, retaliated. Then John Milverton at that time Carmelite Prior Provincial, intervened and so became involved in an acrimonious dispute. Both were imprisoned by the Bishop of London, and excommunicated. Later an appeal was sent to Rome where Pope Paul II, taking for granted the evidence sent by the Bishop, caused Prior Milverton to be imprisoned for some time. After three years a commission of enquiry by seven Cardinals heard the case and, as a result, the Provincial was released and both men were exonerated. Thus it would be untrue to say of the Carmelites in England at that time, that they were stagnant.
Prior of Doncaster at the time of the Pilgrimage of Grace was Laurence Cooke. With the suppression of the smaller monasteries, and from the manner in which their dissolution was contrived, there can have been few loyal religious who were not alarmed for the future. Already the pattern of Cromwell's policy, so well in harmony with the declared wishes of his Sovereign, had become manifest. These anxieties were shared by countless thousands of the common folk, by many squires, and not a few of the nobility as well. The North of England, so loyal to the ancient Faith, was severely affected by the closing of so many of the small monasteries, which had been well used for the general good.
Whatever the truth underlying it, rumour was prevalent that the Royal Commissioners and the Bishops' Chancellors were soon coming to take away chalices, crosses, and other church jewels, to leave only pewter vessels instead. It had been a common sight for some time to witness the breaking up of bells, the stripping of lead from the roofs of churches -of various convents, and the carrying away, London-wards, of loads of jewels and other valuables.
October Ist, I536, the people of Louth in Lincolnshire, rose in revolt and seized the Commissioners. The rebels gathered forces at Horncastle, thousands strong and then seized Lincoln. Yet even so the movement was directed not against the King but was aimed rather :at protecting established rights against those whom the rebels considered the King's enemies as much as, their own. Met by strong opposition, and re-assured by the King himself, they disbanded and returned home. Yet forty-six of them were taken, and executed in March I537
.Almost simultaneously, with the close of the Lincolnshire rising, Yorkshire, Cumberland, and Westmoreland rose for similar reasons. Placing themselves under, the leadership of a little-known Yorkshire solicitor, Robert Aske, whom they had obliged to the task, these rebels called their movement the Pilgrimage of Grace., and declared that they were marching not against the King, but in defence of the old religion, and for the preservation of Christ's Church. With banners bearing the Chalice and Host, and the Five Wounds of Christ, they marched upon Pontefract Castle, where they intercepted Archbishop Edward Lee of York, and Lord Darcy, Lord Lieutenant of the County.
The King's advisors adopted the same policy as Lincolnshire. During the negotiations which followed, Robert Aske made Doncaster Whitefriars his headquarters. He was taken to see the King at Windsor, and then returned to make known to all the royal promises, using his every persuasion to disperse the Rebels.
The moment this was accomplished, the King withdrew his promises; Aske was hanged at York, Darcy was executed in the Tower of London, Constable was hanged at Hull. And Prior Cooke of Doncaster attained of treason, was incarcerated in the Tower, under the sentence of death. Adam Sedbar, Abbot of Jervaulx, William Thirsk, lately Abbot of Fountains, James Cockerel, Prior of Guisborough, Father Pickering, a Dominican, all were executed. Under threat of death, the Abbot of Furness was coerced into surrendering his Abbey; and it must have been much the same way with Prior Cooke, last true Prior of Doncaster, who was forced to assent to the surrender of Whitefriars.
Why Laurence Cooke was not executed immediately is not apparent. Perhaps his assent to the surrender of the Friary was considered a mitigation. He was still alive, in the Tower, when Cromwell himself fell from the King's grace and was beheaded on Tower Hill, July 28th, 1540. Prior Cook's pardon was issued the following October 2nd, but the document arrived too late. He had already been executed at Tyburn on August 4th. His name has been discovered on the wall of his cell in the Tower. In the list of English Martyrs and Confessors, among the praetermissi, occurs the name of Laurence Cooks, “who was executed on the scaffold in the year 1540".
As soon as Prior Cooke had been attainted, he was replaced in office by the more amenable Edward Stubbis. Almost immediately, November I3th, I538, the surrender was made by Stubbis and seven other friars. It was taken by the Commissioners, Hugh Wirral and Teshe, who made an inventory of the friary property at the same time. But Our Lady of Doncaster's statue had already been removed under Archbishop Lee's orders.
According to Wriothesley, Windsor Herald, who wrote the informative Chronicle of England during the reigns of the Tudors: - "It was the month of July, the images of Our Lady of Walsingham and Ipswich were brought up to London with all the jewels that hung around them, at the King's commandment, and divers other images, both in England and Wales, that were used for common pilgrimage . . . and they were burnt at Chelsea by my Lord Privy Seal". Two other chroniclers, Hall and Speed, suggest that the actual burning did not take place until September.
The fate of the image of Our Lady of Doncaster is not stated, and beyond the Archbishop's action in seizing it we have no means of knowing what did happen to the statue. It may or it may not have been burned with the others. The probability, in the light of Latimer's letter, is that it was.
Neither do we have the means to judge what the statue looked like; its size and material, or whether it was of seated or standing type. There is no description of it extant, neither has careful search produced any impression of the Whitefriars' conventual seal, though it is known that one existed. If the statue was made at the time of, or subsequent to, the Friars' arrival, then it was probably of the standing type, but that is a point on which no arbitrary judgement can be passed.
Thus utterly did the despoilers have their way, and one of Our Lady's fairest places of grace was so expunged that the very memory of it all but passed away. The Mass returned, but not the friars, in Mary's reign; and surely those Catholics in the vicinity who remained loyal would have received the ministrations, from time to time, of those recusant clergy who were brave enough to hazard their lives to visit them. It was not until early in the last century that any definite move could be made towards the formation of a corporate parish. That took place in 1833
Two years later the first resident priest arrived. After some time, a plot of land in Prince's Street was purchased, with a coach house and stables, which were used for chapel, schools and presbytery. In 1855a church was opened, dedicated to St. Peter's Chains, which was enlarged into its present form in 1867, when the Lady Chapel was added. In that year then, 1867, a definite step was taken in the course of the revival of the historic Doncaster devotion.
In Some Historical Notesby Charles William Hatfield, published in i868, which appeared in the Doncaster Gazette, the following information is given:
"The Lady Chapel is situated at the end of the (north) aisle. It is lighted by three lancet windows and is fitted with altar and reredos and is carpeted. Here too is the confessional. There has been no attempt at ornamentation. Through the deep enthusiastic interest of the Rev. Edward Pearson, the present (i.e., i868), incumbent, the new image of the Blessed Virgin, cut in Caen stone by Phyffers of London, has been placed within this hallowed shrine. As a work of art it is greatly admired and forms a conspicuous feature in the Chapel."
The references to Phyffers of London and to "this hallowed shrine" are not without interest, for they indicate not only the care which Father Pearson took but also his clear intention that this should be a hallowed Shrine of Our Lady. This being so, Doncaster may justly claim that here was made the first attempt since the Reformation to restore one of Our Lady's historic shrines of the past. The King's Lynn Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham was not erected until 1897 the renewals at Willesden, Caversham, Buckfast, and the rest all belong to a later date. Only a few years previously Mother Margaret Hallahan had been battling to get permission to introduce her statue for public devotion. At St. Chad's Cathedral in Birmingham, the ancient statue which was Pugin's gift had been reverenced for nearly thirty years, but that did not constitute the revival of a pre Reformation shrine.
One of Doncaster's most famous sons in modern times was John Bentley, who was to become the inspired architect of Westminster Cathedral. His home was in Frenchgate (now the "Olde Barrel") where his father was a prosperous wine merchant. When he was fourteen years of age, in 1853, he was to witness the conflagration which destroyed Doncaster's great medieval church of St. George. It was Bentley's devoted interest in this cathedral-like building, and in its reconstruction by Sir George Gilbert Scott, that moved him to take up architecture as a career. Before he had completed his sixteenth year, he left school and became articled to the then well known London architect, the Catholic, Henry Clutton, at that time engaged on numerous works for London churches, including the Sacred Heart Chapel in the Jesuit Church in Farm Street. It was here, for the first time, that the two, Phyffers and the young Bentley, had occasion to collaborate. The modelled brass panels in the altar are Phyffers'; the angels on either side of the tabernacle are Bentley's first work.
This period of collaboration was to last several years. An illuminating example of it is in the case of the church of SS. Peter and Edward, in Palace Street, Westminster. Until 1913 this was official parish church of the district. At that time this, served by the Oblates of St Charles. Cardinal Manning, who used to live in Carlisle Place, said Mass here, and here Bentley was married in 1874. To him already, in 1863, had been entrusted the task of designing the altar on the south side of the church, and Bentley had put the work of carving the altar-piece, the Coronation of Our Lady, into Phyffers’ capable hands. Again it was Phyffers who produced the statues of SS Peter and Edward at each side of the reredos.
What part, if any, Bentley played in designing the Lady Chapel at Doncaster is not known. It is merely known that about that time he returned to the town to attend a friend's wedding. But as Phyffers was asked to provide the most important feature, the actual image of Our Lady, one is tempted to suppose that John was at least a moving spirit in the matter. We know at least that in that same year he was asked to design an altar frontal and a tabernacle door, on which he lavished loving care, and about which he wrote in such enthusiastic terms to his friend, Charles Hatfield. Nine years later, he was again asked to design a complete new high altar; but on this occasion the four figures representing the prophetic types of sacrifice, Abel, Noah, Melchisidech, and Abraham, were not the work of Phyffers; they were by Bentley himself, and probably the very first examples of his in opus sectile.
Before he began work on the statue of Our Lady, Phyffers would certainly have been given some idea of what Father Pearson had in mind, and if, as one may suppose, the learned priest was in fact aiming at restoring Our Lady of Doncaster, then those ideas as expressed in the statue are of importance. The figure is of traditional, English, design of the fifteenth century, except that Our Lady holds the Holy Child, Continental fashion, on her left arm, whereas in so many of the medieval English pieces it is her right arm that holds the Divine Infant. In this instance a slender sceptre is held in the right hand.
The Holy Child is seated sideways, holding a fold of Our Lady's veil with His right hand. This too is a small piece of medieval symbolism taken from English and Continental work of the I4th-15th centuries. An orb rests on the palm of His left hand. He wears an ample, yet simple, robe which allows the toes of His bare feet to show. Our Lady is shod. Here again Phyffers has used symbolic details which go back to remote times, and which are constant in early Byzantine representations of the Theotokos. Yet again, in his treatment of Our Lady's left hand, which supports the Holy Child, the sculptor has managed to include another theme, that of the hand held orantes fashion, from ancient Eastern eikons. Almost universally one or other of Our Lady's hands-usually the right one-is held in a similar position, symbol of the prayers she offers on behalf of those who invoke her. It would have been easy to have designed that hand in some other position and while it is perfectly natural, as shown here, yet the ancient lore has not been forgotten.
The folds of Our Lady's veil, of her mantle, robe and kirtle, are entirely reminiscent of fifteenth century English workmanship and, to slightly less extent, the treatment of her wavy hair and the foliate crown. Such detail is well exemplified in the charming alabaster piece, seriously damaged, alas, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, "Our Lady and the Holy Child holding a bird", also of the fifteenth century; and in the even more celebrated "Flawford Madonna" now in the Castle Museum at Nottingham. This was found under the floor of Flawford church in 1779, and, most fortunately, it was preserved. It is frequently illustrated in text books of Medieval English art. In both these instances, however, the treatment of the Holy Child is lighter, and certainly the figure of Our Lady in the Flawford example is slighter. Yet, considering the date when the Doncaster group was achieved, it is remarkable and, when seen in the setting originally designed for it.....-it has remained there ever since it was erected...-most dignified. It is sincerely devotional and gracious, yet it lacks much of that undue sentimentality which so often mars work executed a hundred years ago.
The Lady Chapel, set apart from the rest of the church, is notable in that it lacks all but essential ornament; a feature pointed out by Charles Hatfield in 1868. Emphasis is thus placed upon the simple altar with its chaste ornaments, and the statue of Our Lady which is raised on a bracket above and immediately behind the centre of the altar, without other embellishment.
Except for the statue, the other furnishings now in the Chapel of Our Lady of Doncaster. including the floor, were given as a memorial to the late Father Flynn, for long Parish Priest. by one of his friends. Father Flynn had taken a particular interest in the revival of devotion to Our Lady of Doncaster and, in the days just prior to the I939 War, was seriously contemplating having a special statue carved. But uncertainty as to the form or style which ought to be adopted, and lack of clear evidence as to the original figure, caused him to delay. There can be little doubt but that Father Pearson, seventy years before, had intended the statue by Phyffers to represent Our Lady of Doncaster, and Father Flynn took that into account.
The revival of devotion to Our Lady of Doncaster has been quiet and unobtrusive, one intimate among Doncaster people and without widespread publicity. The Marian Year of I954 certainly gave great impetus to the revival, and many hitherto unaware of it became suddenly aware of the shrine so near to their homes.
The Bishop of Leeds, the Diocesan, Right Reverend Mgr. John Carmel Heenan, D.D., himself encouraged the devotion by composing a prayer in honour of our Lady of Doncaster, to which he attached an indulgence
0 Lord Jesus Christ, Who from the cross bequeathed to us Mary Thy Mother to be our Mother also, grant us the grace to be worthy to be called her children. May Mary be Queen and Mother of every home. Our town in ancient days was renowned for devotion to Our Lady of Doncaster.
Today, once more we crave the comfort of her motherly protection. Bless all who invoke her sweet name and may Mary lead us to Thee who are the Way, the Truth and the Life: Who livest and reignest with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
(100 days indulgence.)
St. Peter's Church, Doncaster, is a worthy home for the renewed Shrine of Our Lady of Doncaster. It was built at a difficult time and externally, perhaps, might not be considered as imposing as a Shrine-church of Our Lady should be. But appearances are often deceptive and within a considerable degree of stateliness has been achieved.
That this is indeed the home of a Shrine of Our Lady is suggested before ever the visitor enters, by the remarkable tympanum over the main portal. Mr. Charles Hatfield's description of it, in his 1868 Historical Notes, gives a contemporary opinion of it, within a few months of its erection:
"The doorway is divided by a shaft of polished granite, which serves as a pedestal for the statue of Our Blessed Lady, carved alto relievo, having Our Lord and Saviour in her arms and on either side standing figures representing St. Peter and St. Charles Borromeo, patron saints of the church. The background of the design is relieved with drapery and the ensemble is very chaste and effective. It is cut in Roche Abbey stone. A nimbus or halo surrounds the principal figure on which is the following inscription: BENEDICTA ET VENERABILIS ES VIRGO MARIA QUAE SINE TACTU PUDORIS INVENTA ES MATER SALVATORIS. " '
From the first going in one is assured that this is indeed a place where the Mother of God is held in due regard and with affection.
For lack of any other surviving record, it is impossible to assign this work to any particular artist. The probability that this too comes from Phyffers' hand must not be discounted. The introduction of St. Charles Borromeo may provide a clue. In 1867, Bentley was closely associated with the Oblates of St. Charles in London, Cardinal Manning's own Congregation, and various details in the execution of this tympanum recall others in his work in the Palace Street, Westminster, Church, which was at that date served by the Oblates.
One other detail within the church is now somewhat hidden and might escape notice unless attention was drawn to it. This is the round window above the main doorway, above the gallery at the western end of the nave. It is filled with glass of no great merit in itself, representing Our Lady seated with the Holy Child on her knee-. As Edward Hatfield mentions the window but not the glass, one must assume that it was inserted after he had written his account. But from its technique it cannot be assigned to a date much later. It was Father Flynn's belief that the unknown artist, being uncertain whether Our Lady of Doncaster was of the seated or standing type, tried to give an alternative version to that adopted by Phyffers in the Lady Chapel. When so few records survive relative to work done or gifts given only seventy years ago, it is not surprising that so few remain from which to glean a fuller history of the sanctuary in pre-Reformation days. Perforce, much of what has now been written is based on surmise. Even so, sufficient facts remain established to assure one that the Shrine of Our Lady of Doncaster exerted a great influence in the days of its fame, and to remind one that the present day restoration of the ancient devotion, one of the first since Catholic Emancipation -has established a bastion of Marian devotion in one of the most vital areas of this country.
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ADDENDUM AD 2003
Since H. M. Gillett wrote his book in 1957 much has happened to St. Peter in Chains church in Doncaster and to the Shrine of Our Lady of Doncaster.
As the town of Doncaster began to grow and with it its Catholic population, Monsignor Canon Abberton purchased a site in Chequer Road and built a new Church, Hall and Presbytery
The Church was opened by Cardinal Heenan on Palm Sunday 1973 and the people of Doncaster joined with Bishop Moverley (first Bishop of Hallam) in celebrating its consecration on the feast of SS Peter and Paul, 29th June 1988.
The new church, octagonal in shape and of modern design. John Bentley’s Tabernacle Door, the four reredos panels and the altar designed for the old church are incorporated in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel of the new church.
The Statue of Our Lady of Doncaster now stands in a specially designed Shrine Chapel on the north side of the church. Phyffers’ statue stands in an oak reredos with modern stained glass windows depicting St. Joseph, the Annunciation, the Nativity and Our Lady’s Assumption.
Devotion to Our Lady of Doncaster continues and some thought has been given to the setting aside of a day in the Diocesan Calendar in honour of Our Lady of Doncaster.
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Mary of Doncaster
1. Mary of Doncaster, bright star of Carmel,
Once you were honoured here, once pilgrims came,
Hear us today as we gather before you,
Joining with them now to bless your sweet name.
Chorus
Mary of Doncaster, bright star of Carmel,
Look on the pilgrims who call you today,
Hear our petitions, accept our devotions,
Mary of Doncaster, hear us we pray.
2. Many the candies that burned in your honour,
Many the pilgrims who knelt here to pray,
Miracles, too, to your prayers were attributed,
Royalty, commoners trod the same way.
Chorus
3. Then came destruction, your shrine was dishonoured,
Your image taken to London and burned,
Dark dissolution took hold of your Priory,
Whilst all the graces you offered were spurned.
Chorus
4. Long years have passed since your shrine was forsaken,
Now once more honoured, we kneel here today,
Come to our aid in this land, once your dowry,
Ladye of Doncaster, hear us we pray.
Chorus
Tune: Ave Maria, 0 Maiden, 0 Mother
