On the 23rd October Bishop Philip our Bishop-elect joined the Canons of the Chapter for a special celebration of Mass and the blessing of a new Icon of St Cuthbert Mayne. The Chapter commissioned the new Icon, which the Sisters of Mary Morning Star from Lynton have taken over a year to create this most beautiful and unique image of St Cuthbert Mayne.
The icon will hang opposite St Joseph’s Icon in the sanctuary area. We also had the privilege of the relic of St Cuthbert Mayne being placed under the icon for this most special event.
Saint Cuthbert Mayne is an English martyr who was born near Barnstaple, in Devon, as a Protestant. He converted to Catholicism at St. John’s, Oxford. Cuthbert was ordained at Douai, France, and sent home to England in about 1575. Working in Cornwall, he was captured after a year. Condemned for celebrating a Mass, he was hanged, drawn, and quartered on November 25. Cuthbert was a friend of Edmund Campion, and he was aided by Francis Tregian in Cornwall. He was the first Englishman trained for the priesthood at Douai and was the protomartyr of English seminaries. Cuthbert was canonized by Pope Paul VI as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales in 1970.
Words courtesy of Plymouth Cathedral and image courtesy of Monika Marszalek.