Thursday, June 21, 2007

Of your Charity


Pray for the soul of Father Sir Hugh Dacre Barrett-Lennard, Bart. of the London Oratory, his family were parishioners and generous benefactors to this parish until the 1970s.

May his soul and all the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for putting that up. A good photo of him 2 years ago, with a small article:
http://www.thurrock-community.org.uk/historysoc/fatherh.htm

Fr Ray Blake said...

Many thanks

Anonymous said...

Fr. Hugh's funerl will be at the Oratory on Tuesday 3rd July at 11.00am. Please do come and pray for the repose of his soul.

Paulinus said...

RIP indeed

Isn't "Father Sir" Hugh superfluous. I think priests of a certain rank were titled 'Sir' before the reformation (cf Duffy's Sir Christopher Trychay in The Voices of Morebath

Arise, Sir Ray!!!!

Fr Ray Blake said...

Paulinus,
I think it is usual for Barronets, it was on his confessional at the Oratory.
There is some controversary about whether it is licit for a priest to use a secular title.
Though I don't think he minded either way, most of the time. He always struck me as being a sort of "primitive" Oratorian, sharing St Philip's eccentricity, especially about dress and those type of things. His family had a certain reputation for a lack of grandeur and kind heartedness, which was there in him. A good, gentle man.

Anonymous said...

I suppose that Fr Sir Hugh is somewhat less correct (or at least less elegant) than The Revd. Sir Hugh. As Fr Ray says though, I doubt that "he minded either way".

Paulinus said...

The title stuff is mere straw sub specie aeternitatis, I suppose. He sounds a good, kind priest, and a gentle man (and a gentleman) from all I've read of him.

May he rest in peace.

Anonymous said...

The photo was taken by Susan Yates, chairman of the Thurrock Local History Society. There is a longer version of the interview in the society's magazine - Panorama. On the subject of his title, I believe some people were unaware that he was a baronet and when Susan asked for "Sir Hugh Dacre Barrett-Lennard" there were blank looks until someone said "oh you mean Father Hugh".

Anonymous said...

No, the thing about him having "Sir" on his confessional is nonsense. Oratory Fathers don't use titles and under the Rule they are required to turn down honours if they are offered them. Another baronet at the Oratory is F. Sir Charles Dilke, and his confessional just has his surname, like everyone else's.

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