King Charles III returned to work yesterday after his European summer holiday with a tour of the Birmingham Oratory to mark the canonisation of St John Henry Newman in 2019. Source: The Tablet.
He was met on arrival by Birmingham Archbishop Bernard Longley and the provost of the Birmingham Oratory, Fr Ignatius Harrison. He viewed the library and toured the parish church of the Immaculate Conception, the national shrine to Newman.
The King was accompanied by Daniel Joyce, curator of the Newman Museum, on a tour of the building, which included the sacristy where some of Newman’s vestments were displayed. In the library he saw the Polyglot Bible from 1657 with its dedication to King Charles II.
He saw Newman’s own room, which remains as it was on the saint’s death in 1890 along with books, rosaries, clothes and other possessions and personal effects. He unveiled a plaque in the courtyard to commemorate the visit.
King Charles III viewed historic items in the library and the cardinal’s personal effects in his room, which has remained untouched since his death.
As Prince Charles, the King had met Pope Francis and attended the canonisation in Rome of Saint John Henry Newman, who established the Birmingham Oratory in 1848, a year after he had joined the Congregation of the Oratory in Rome.
The church was built between 1907 and 1910 in the Baroque style inspired by St Philip Neri’s own Oratory in the Oratorio dei Filippini in Rome.
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King Charles III visits Birmingham Oratory (By Ruth Gledhill, The Tablet)
