Prayer for the Beatification of the Servant of God Mother Mary Richard Beauhamp Harnbrough, O.SS.S

The Daily Mail have a little more on Mother Richard or Riccarda, who was received into the Church at St Mary Magdalen. Simon Caldwell who wrote the original article has sent me a photograph.

Apparently the Bridgettines are referring to her as a Servant of God so obviously her cause has been accepted.

Here is a prayer for her Beatification composed by the sisters

AMOR MEUS CRUCIFIXUS EST

Prayer for the Beatification of the Servant of God
Mother M. Richard Beauchamp Hambrough, O.SS.S.
(1887 – 1966)

We thank you, Lord,
because You have moulded a simple and generous heart
in Your servant Richard,
capable of total confidence
and heroic adhesion to Your project of life.
Grant to us,
who venerate her memory,
that we may follow in her steps,
and have her as a sister and as an advocate
before Your throne of mercy.
Glory be … 3 times

In the event of graces granted through the intercession of the Servant of God you are kindly asked to inform:
Motherhouse, P.za Farnese, 96 - Rome - 00186 - Italy
Tel. +39 06-68892596.

Perhaps someone might like to compose a prayer for our parish?

Mothers Riccarda's Cause Moves On

I was pleased to announce progress in Mother Riccarda's cause, at Mass yesterday especially as I was announcing that this year is the 150th anniversay of the opening of the nave of the Church (more on that later).

From the Telegraph, by Simon Caldwell

A file on Mother Riccarda Beauchamp Hambrough has been sent to the Vatican to be studied by historians and theologians.
Her cause for sainthood was opened in July 2010 by the Diocese of Rome along with that of Sister Katherine Flanagan, marking the first phase of the investigations.
In a significant development, the causes of both women have together been sent to the Holy See’s Congregation of Causes for Sainthood, marking a significant, but early, step forward in the long road to becoming saints.
If it is concluded that the pair lived lives of “heroic virtue”, the Pope will declare the London-born nuns to be “Venerable” and the search will begin for two miracles to first declare them Blessed and then saints.
Both nuns belonged to a revived order of Bridgettine sisters nicknamed “the hot cross bun nuns” because of the distinctive crosses covering the tops of their wimples.
Mother Riccarda helped to save the lives of about 60 Jews by hiding them from the Nazis in her Rome convent, the Casa di Santa Brigida.
She born in 1887 and was baptised in St Mary Magdalene’s Church, Brighton, at the age of four years after her parents converted to the Catholic faith.
Yesterday Father Ray Blake, the parish priest of St Mary’s welcomed the progress of her cause. “I think it is fantastic,” he said.
“Here is Brighton we are following her cause with great enthusiasm and see her very much as our local saint.
“When I tell people at Mass that that her cause is going forward I’m sure that they will be overjoyed.”
While Mother Riccarda spent most of her life in Rome, eventually becoming the head of the order, Sister Katherine was at the forefront of efforts to open Bridgettine convents around the world some 400 years after the Reformation nearly wiped out the order.
Judith Whitehead, a niece of Sister Katherine, said she was astonished that the first phase had concluded so quickly.
“I am surprised that it has moved to the next stage in my lifetime,” said Mrs Whitehead, 73, of Shaftesbury, Dorset, who had given evidence to the initial inquiry.
“I thought that the progression of looking into her life would take about 10 years,” she said.
“It is amazing to have someone in your family who was so revered by everybody … the Bridgettines obviously think that she is going to become a saint.”
Father Simon Henry, the parish priest of St Gregory’s Church, Earlsfield, south London, where Sister Katherine was baptised, said: “To have a possible saint from the parish is wonderful.”
Born Florence Catherine in Clerkenwell in 1892, Sister Katherine trained as a dressmaker before she left the family home for Rome at 19 years with the aim of becoming a nun.
She went on to become the first prioress of new convents in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire; Lugano, Switzerland; and Vadstena, Sweden - where she died in 1941.
A year after Sister Katherine joined, the future Mother Riccarda - born Madaleina Catherine - also journeyed to Rome.
Because of her talent and intelligence she soon became deputy of the Order, called the Most Holy Saviour of St Bridget, and remained at the mother house in the Italian capital.
When the Nazis took control in Rome in 1943, and began to round up the Jews of Rome for deportation to Auschwitz, Mother Riccarda risked her own life by smuggling fugitives into her convent.
Some Jews who gave evidence to the initial inquiry spoke of Mother Riccarda's kindness, saying they nicknamed her “Mama”.
She died in Rome in 1966 at the age of 79 years.

Our Saint!!!

Bridgettine Convent, Rome

A BRITISH nun who helped to hide Italian Jews from the Nazis in wartime Rome has been put forward as a candidate for sainthood.

Mother Ricarda Beauchamp Hambrough played a vital role in saving the lives of more than 60 Jews by smuggling them into her convent. Her order, the Bridgettines, founded in the 14th century, has now sought permission from the Vatican to examine her life and writings for evidence of “heroic virtue”, the first step to beatification and, ultimately, canonisation. She could join three other British women being considered by Rome for sainthood.

Ricarda’s case is in its earliest stages and requires evidence of two miracles. Yet with successful progress,it could make her the first British female saint since 1970, when Pope Paul VI canonised three women among martyrs who died in the Protestant Reformation.

Ricarda was born Madaleina Catherine in London in September 1887 and was received into the Roman Catholic church in Brighton HERE!!!!! at ST MARY MAGDALEN!!!!!!! at the age of four after her parents’ conversion to the faith. Little is known about her childhood, but as a young woman she was influenced by Father Benedict Williamson, a Benedictine monk, and in 1912, aged 24, she travelled to Rome to become a nun. With the Bridgettines she took the religious name “Ricarda” and was soon chosen as the assistant to Blessed Mary Elizabeth, the abbess.

During the second world war, on hearing that the Germans were exterminating Jews, Pope Pius XII secretly ordered the religious houses of Rome to shelter them from persecution, according to Vatican records.

A spokeswoman for the Bridgettines confirmed yesterday that Ricarda was central to the hiding of refugees, including Italian Jews, communists and Poles: “We helped many during the war and Mother Ricarda helped Mother Elizabeth to hide them.”

Although Pius was criticised after his death for not speaking out against the Holocaust,Ricarda’s efforts to save Jews is likely to be viewed favourably by the Vatican, as it was a factor in her abbess’s own swift elevation to beatification.

A QUARTET OF GOODNESS

Mother Ricarda is one of four British women who are potential candidates for sainthood.

The others being considered by the Vatican are Elizabeth Prout, a 19th-century nun who worked in the slums of Manchester; Mary Potter, a Londoner who founded an order of nursing nuns, in Nottingham during the same period; and Margaret Sinclair, a 20th-century nun who died of tuberculosis after tending to the poor of Edinburgh.

from the Sunday Times

Gosh! a saint from the parish

I had an email this morning from Rome...

.......we would like to get some information, if it is possible, about one of our Sister (Nun), born in London on 10th September 1887, and baptised “sub conditione” in your Parish St. Mary Magdeline on 6th May 1891 with the name Madaleina Catherine (Katherine) Maria Clarice BEAUCHAMP HAMBROUGH, daughter of Mr. Windsor John and Mrs. Louise Frances Fisher.
And that is: from the Parish record shows that she was baptised “sub conditione” for the fact that at her birth were she baptized in the Anglican Church? Also were the parents received baptism “sub conditione” in the Catholic Church? We would appreciate very much any information you may have about her or her family.
Since we have introduced the Cause of Beatification and Canonization of the above mentioned Sister, this information is very important to us.
Thanking you in advance for all that you could provide with.
Wish you every blessings of the Lord
.........

Pray, pray, pray!

Mother Riccarda Becomes Venerable on July 5th

Simon Caldwell was kind enough to send me an unedited copy of his article in today's Daily Telegraph - it is not on-line:

Two nuns from London are to be placed on the road to sainthood by Pope Benedict XVI, it emerged yesterday.

The Pontiff will declare Sister Katherine Flanagan and Mother Riccarda Beauchamp Hambrough to be ‘Servants of God’ – the first stage on the way to becoming a saint – in a ceremony at the Vatican on July 5.

Mother Riccarda is considered a candidate partly because she helped to save the lives of about 60 Jews from the Nazis by smuggling them into her Rome convent, the Casa di Santa Brigida, in the autumn of 1943.

Sister Katherine, known as ‘Kitty’, helped to spread her Bridgettine order by opening convents throughout Europe.

The order is nicknamed the ‘hot-cross bun nuns’ because of the distinctive cross covering the top of their wimples.

Kitty, a dressmaker, was just 19 years old when she left Wimbledon for Rome with the aim of becoming a Bridgettine nun.

A year later she was followed by the future Mother Riccarda – born Madaleina Catherine in London in 1887 – who joined the same order at the age of 24.

But while Kitty went on to become the first prioress of newly-opened convents in Iver Heath Buckinghamshire; Lugano, Switzerland, and Vadstena, Sweden, where she died in 1941.

Mother Riccarda, however, became deputy of the order and remained at the mother house in Rome.

During the Second World War she initially worked with refugees and casualties. But when in October 1943 the SS began to round up the city’s Jews for deportation to the gas chambers of Auschwitz she began to smuggle them into her convent.

Yad Vashem has already honoured the work of the sisters by naming their superior, Blessed Mary Elizabeth Hasselblad, as a righteous gentile. It is seeking testimonies from Holocaust survivors about Mother Riccarda’s activities.

Riccarda was baptised as a child in St Mary Magdalene Church in Brighton after her parents, Windsor and Louise, converted from Anglicanism to the Catholic faith.

Father Ray Blake, the parish priest, yesterday spoke of his delight at the prospect of having a saint associated with the church.

‘I suppose it means we are going to have to start thinking about a shrine for her,’ he said.

‘Brighton needs tons of saints but more importantly this is excellent for Catholic-Jewish relations.

‘Her canonisation would demonstrate what many Catholics who didn’t hit the news were actually doing in the Second World War.

‘They were trying to live Christian lives in very fraught times often at great risk to themselves.

‘There are Poles in our community whose parents were shot because they were hiding Jews, priests or gypsies or whatever,’ he added. ‘It was an extraordinary time of a lot of heroism and a lot of sin – just like today really.’

The first step toward sainthood will involve the examination of the lives of the two women for evidence of ‘heroic virtue’, before two miracles will be sought first for their beatification and then to canonise them as saints.

The last women British women were canonised in 1970 when Pope Paul VI named Margaret Clitherow, Anne Line and Margaret Ward among 40 English and Welsh saints who died as martyrs in the Protestant Reformation.

Britain next saint is likely to be Cardinal John Henry Newman who will be beatified at Coventry Airport by Pope Benedict on September 19.

Elisa Famiglietti, the vicar general of the Bridgettines, said last year that the opening of Mother Riccarda’s cause for sainthood would be ‘a great honour for England’.

She said: ‘Mother Riccarda was a wonderful woman. I knew her well and met her in 1954 and was with her up until her death in 1966.

‘She was an angel who did so much to help our Jewish brothers during the war and I know they want to honour her as well.

‘Mother Riccarda was humble and discreet and she provided safety and charity for our Jewish brothers during the war but she very rarely spoke about it.

‘What I always remember about her is that despite living for so long in Italy she never forgot she was English and always spoke English to us.’

Riccarda finally became the head of the order and died in Rome at the age of 79. Her body lies in the convent where she hid people from persecution.

Kitty Flanagan body is in the Swedish convent where she died.

Born in Clerkenwell, London, in July 1892, Kitty was the eldest of four children of William, a solicitor’s clerk who became a major in the British Army in the First World War and Florence, nee Murray.

What I find fascinating is that Mother and her sisters hid not only Jews but Communists and later their Facist persecutors, in fact their house was open to anyone in search of a refuge, anyone for whom the mob was baying. That is Christian hospitality.
Which group or individuals should they be sheltering today?