English Words Inherited From Victorian And Edwardian British-Indian Army Life.

Officers of the 1st Battalion, 4th Ghurkha Rifles (1st/4th GR) 

at Bakloh, India, 2 March 1916. Seated, Left to Right: 

Captain John Redmond Hartwell (Adjutant); Major Zellard (Commanding Officer); Captain L. P. Collins; Second Lieutenant H. E. Giles (Quartermaster). Standing, Left to Right: Lieutenant Ross Smith (Indian Medical Service); Lieutenant R. V. Brandon; Lieutenant A. W. Woodhead; Second Lieutenant Samuel Grant Mellis-Smith.

Picture Credit: Image: IWM (Q 81669).

Illustration: IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM

Buckshee.

[Meaning: Free].

(From: “Baksheesh”).

Hindi/Urdu.

Bungalow.

[Meaning: A low-roofed house].

(From: “Bangla”).

Bengali.

Thug.

[Meaning: Bandit].

(From: “Thugee”).

Hindi.

Doolally.

[Meaning: Mad].

(From: “Deolalli”).

A British Indian Army Camp in Maharashtra, India, where Soldiers awaiting repatriation often went “Stir-Crazy”. The term “Doolally Tap” became Soldiers’ slang for madness.

British Indian Army Soldiers, including men from 

the 3rd Sikh Regiment and 1st Sikh Infantry, Punjab Frontier Force, in Beijing, circa 1900. Sikh and Muslim Soldiers with Medals. Notes: University of Bristol - Historical Photographs of China. Reference number: BL-n057. Caption on typed list accompanying the box of negatives: “28: Group of Sikhs”. Digitised from a negative made for a copy print. The Officer standing, third from the Left, is Sardar Bahadur Mit Singh, 3rd Sikh Regiment. Sitting, first Left, is a Punjabi Muslim, named Bahadur Ali Khan of the 1st Sikh Infantry, Punjab Frontier Force. He received the Indian Order of Merit for Gallantry in East Africa in April 1896 - and his Decorations and Medals include the Neck Badge of the 3rd-Class Order 

of the Brilliant Star of Zanzibar.

Source [1]

Author Unknown.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Khaki.

[Meaning: Dust-Coloured/Drab-Brown].

(From: “Khākī”).

Hindi/Urdu.

First adopted by British Indian Army Units 

for camouflage uniforms in the Mid‑19th-Century. 

Then spread to the whole British Army.

Loot.

[Meaning: Stolen Goods].

(From: “Lūṭ”).

Hindi.

 Became common in British Military 

slang during Campaigns in India).

Verandah.

[Meaning: A roofed platform outside a house].

(From: Possibly of Portuguese origin).

 Its widespread English use came through Anglo‑Indian Colonial architecture and Military housing).

Pyjamas.

[Meaning: Leg Garment].

(From: “Pāy‑Jāma”).

Hindi/Urdu.

Adopted by British troops as 

comfortable nightwear in the Indian climate. 

A chromolithograph of No. 1 Kohat Mountain Battery 

of the Punjab Frontier Force (now part of Pakistan Army).

Illustration: Richard Simkin.

Date: Circa 1896.

Source:

https://www.military-prints.com/

military_print.php?ProdID=9283

Immediate Source: Personal collection.

Author: Richard Simkin (1840–1926).

(Wikimedia Commons)

Jungle.

[Meaning: Dense Forest].

(From: “Jangal”).

Hindi.

Juggernaut.

[Meaning: A massive crushing force].

(From: “Jagannātha”).

Sanskrit.

The huge temple chariots at Puri, India. British Troops and travellers reported the overwhelming size of the Procession, giving rise to the metaphor.

Shampoo.

[Meaning: To knead or massage].

(From: “Chāmpnā”). 

Hindi.

British Soldiers encountered the practice in India; 

the meaning later shifted to hair‑washing.

Bangle.

[Meaning: Bracelet].

(From: “Bangri”).

Hindi.

Soldiers of the 3rd Sappers and Miners. 

Illustration by Maj. A. C. Lovett.

Published 1911.

Source: Engineers Regimental Centre

Link: “The Armies of India” 

by Sir George Fletcher MacMunn, 

published 1911, pg. 171

Author: A. C. Lovett.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Bandana.

[Meaning: Tie-Dyed Cloth].

(From: “Bandhnu”).

Hindi.

Mogul.

[Meaning: Powerful Figure].

(From: “Moghul”).

Persian/Urdu.

Blighty.

[Meaning: Foreign/British/Home].

(From: “Vilāyatī / Bilētī”).

Hindi/Urdu.

British Soldiers’ corruption adopted during

the Raj and popularised in World War I

as a sentimental term for “Home”.

Hobson‑Jobson (1886) already records this Soldierly corruption. It became hugely popular in World War I, especially in the phrase “Dear Old Blighty.” Soldiers also coined “a Blighty wound” — a wound bad enough to send you home, but not bad enough to kill you.

PLUS

the following are all Indian‑origin words that circulated heavily in British‑Indian Army life and administration and, thus, into British usage.

Cheetah.

Catamaran.

 Cashmere.

 Chintz.

 Ginger.

 Pepper.

 Punch.

 Sugar.

 Orange.

Metropolitan Cathedral-Basilica Of The Nativity Of Saint Mary, Milan. Basilica Cattedrale Metropolitana Di Santi Maria Nascente, Milano. (Part Eight).

English: Milan Cathedral.

Italiano: Milano - Duomo.

This File: 30 January 2014.

Source: Own work.

This file is licensed under the

Creative Commons Attribution-

Share Alike 3.0 Unported Licence.

User: Чаховіч Уладзіслаў

(Wikimedia Commons)

Duomo of Milan.

The Church that took 600 Years to finish.

Available on YouTube

HERE

The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless stated otherwise.

On 20 May 1805, Napoleon Bonaparte, about to be crowned King of Italy, ordered the façade to be finished by Pellicani. 

In his enthusiasm, he assured that all expenses would fall to the French treasury, which would reimburse the Fabbrica for the real estate it had to sell. 

Though the re-imbursement was never paid, it still meant that finally, within only seven years, the Cathedral’s façade was completed.

Pellicani largely followed Buzzi’s project, adding some Neo-Gothic details to the upper windows. As a form of thanksgiving, a statue of Napoleon was placed at the top of one of the Spires. Napoleon was crowned King of Italy at the Duomo.

In the following years, most of the missing Arches and Spires were constructed. The Statues on the Southern Wall were also finished, while, during 1829 – 1858, new Stained-Glass Windows replaced the old ones, though with less aesthetically significant results.

English: Stained-Glass Window commissioned by Pope 

Pius IV Medici for the monumental grave to his brother, the condottiero Gian Giacomo Medici (1498-1555), called "il Medeghino", by Leone Leoni, in the Cathedral in Milan.

Italiano: Duomo di Milano. Vetrata di papa Pio IV 

Medici, al di sopra del monumento funebre a suo fratello, il condottiero Gian Giacomo Medici (1498-1555), 

detto "il Medeghino", di Leone Leoni.

Photo: 8 March 2007.

Source: Own work.

Author: G.dallorto

(Wikimedia Commons)

The last details of the Cathedral were finished only in the 20th-Century: The last Portal was inaugurated on 6 January 1965. This date is considered the very end of a process which had proceeded for generations, although, even now, some uncarved blocks remain to be completed as statues.

PART NINE FOLLOWS.

Saint Paulinus. Bishop And Confessor. Feast Day, Today, 22 June. White Vestments.

Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless stated otherwise.

Saint Paulinus.
   Bishop And Confessor.
   Feast Day 22 June.

Double.

White Vestments.

Saint Paulinus of Nola.

English: Gothic-Revival Stained-Glass Window, 

Linz Cathedral, Austria.

Deutsch: Linzer Dom ( Oberösterreich).

Neogotisches Buntglasfenster mit Darstellung 

des heiligen Paulinus von Nola.

Photo: 14 March 2009.

Source: Own work.

Author: Wolfgang Sauber.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Saint Paulinus, born in 353 A.D. of a very distinguished Roman family at Bordeaux, Aquitaine, France, distinguished himself in his studies and became a Senator at the age of twenty-five.

Elected a Consul, he established his residence at Nola, Campania, Italy, near the tomb of Saint Felix, the Martyred Priest, whose Feast The Church Celebrates on 14 January, where he was suddenly touched by Grace and, soon after, Baptised.

Following the example of Christ, "Who, being Rich, made Himself Poor" (Epistle), and Who counselled the practice of The Virtue of Poverty (Gospel), he abandoned his great riches and, at this price, bought The Kingdom of Heaven.

Having separated from his wife, who also gave herself to God, he became a Priest. Later, he was Bishop of Nola (Introit, Gradual, Alleluia, Offertory, Communion).

His former friends blamed him: “He is content with the approval of Jesus”. Soon afterwards, the Goths ravaged Campania and utterly despoiled the Rich of Rome, who gained no merit thereby, whereas Saint Paulinus, who had abandoned his riches voluntarily for Christ’s sake, is rewarded a hundredfold hereafter in Eternal Life.

He died in 431 A.D., at the age of seventy-eight, and was buried near Saint Felix at Nola.

Mass: Sacerdotes tui.

Saint Alban. Proto-Martyr Of England. Feast Day 22 June. Red Vestments.

English: Stained-Glass Window in St Albans Cathedral, England, showing the Martyrdom of Saint Alban.

Polski: Witraż z katedry w St Albans 

przedstawiający śmierć św. Albana.

Photo: 11 April 2010.

Source: Own work.

Author: Przemysław Sakrajda

(Wikimedia Commons)

Text from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia,

unless stated otherwise.

Saint Alban (Latin: Albanus) is Venerated as the first-recorded British Christian Martyr,[1] for which reason he is considered to be the British Proto-Martyr.

Along with fellow Saints, Julius and Aaron, Alban is one of three named Martyrs recorded at an early date from Roman Britain (“Amphibalus” was the name given much later to the Priest he was said to have been protecting).

He is traditionally believed to have been beheaded in Verulamium (modern Saint Albans) sometime during the 3rd- or 4th-Century A.D., and has been celebrated there since ancient times.

Saint Albans Cathedral.

Photo: 1 August 2014.

Source: Own work.

Attribution:

“Photo by DAVID ILIFF.

Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0”.

Author: Diliff

(Wikimedia Commons)

Alban lived in Roman Britain, but little is known about his religious affiliations, socio-economic status, or citizenship. According to the most elaborate version of the tale found in Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People, in the 3rd- or 4th-Century A.D., (see dating controversy below), Christians began to suffer “cruel persecution”, and Alban was living in Verulamium.[2] 

However, Gildas says he crossed the River Thames before his Martyrdom, so some authors place his residence and Martyrdom in, or near. London.[3]

Both agree that Alban met a Roman Catholic Priest fleeing from persecutors and sheltered him in his house for a number of days. The Priest, who later came to be called Amphibalus, meaning “cloak”, in Latin, Prayed and “kept watch” day and night, and Alban was so impressed with the Priest’s Faith and piety that he found himself emulating him and soon converted to Christianity. 

Stained-Glass Window of Saint Alban (Proto-Martyr of England) and Saint George (Patron Saint of England) in the South Wall of Sandhurst Church, Berkshire, England. The Window is a War Memorial to The Fallen of Sandhurst in

The Great War (First World War).

Photo: 12 July 2009.

Source: From geograph.org.uk

Attribution: Philip Halling /

Sandhurst Church /CC BY-SA 2.0

Author: Philip Halling

(Wikimedia Commons)

Eventually, it came to the ears of an unnamed “impious Prince” that Alban was sheltering the Priest. The Prince gave orders for Roman soldiers to make a strict search of Alban’s house. As they came to seize the Priest, Alban put on the Priest’s cloak and clothing and presented himself to the soldiers in place of his guest.[2]

Alban was brought before a judge, who just then happened to be standing at an altar, offering sacrifices to “devils” (Bede’s reference to pagan gods).

When the judge heard that Alban had offered himself up in place of the Priest, he became enraged that Alban would shelter a person who “despised and blasphemed the gods,”[2] and, as Alban had given himself up in the Christian’s place, Alban was sentenced to endure all the punishments that were to be inflicted upon the Priest, unless he would comply with the pagan rites of their religion.

Alban refused, and declared: “I worship and adore the true and living God Who created all things.” (The words are still used in Prayer at Saint Alban’s Abbey).

Saint Albans Cathedral.

Available on YouTube

HERE

The enraged judge ordered Alban to be scourged, thinking that a whipping would shake the constancy of his heart, but Alban bore these torments patiently and joyfully. When the judge realised that the tortures would not shake his Faith, he gave orders for Alban to be beheaded.[2]

Alban was led to execution, and presently came to a fast-flowing river that could not be crossed (believed to be the River Ver). There was a bridge, but a mob of curious towns people, who wished to watch the execution, had so clogged the bridge that the execution party could not cross. 

Filled with an ardent desire to arrive quickly at Martyrdom, Alban raised his eyes to Heaven, and the river dried up, allowing Alban and his captors to cross over on dry land. 

The Nave, Saint Albans Cathedral.

The North Wall (Left) features a mix of Norman Arches dating back to 1077 and Arches in the Early-English Style of 1200.[18]

Photo: 3 September 2008.

Source: St Albans Cathedral, Roof

Author: the_majestic_fool

(Wikimedia Commons)

The astonished executioner cast down his sword and fell at Alban’s feet, moved by divine inspiration and Praying that he might either suffer with Alban or be executed for him.[2][4]

The other executioner hesitated to pick up his sword and, meanwhile, Alban went about 500 paces to a gently sloping hill, completely covered with all kinds of wildflowers, and overlooking a beautiful plain. (Bede observes that it was a fittingly beautiful place to be enriched and sanctified by a Martyr’s blood.)[2]

When Alban reached the summit of the hill, he began to thirst and Prayed God would give him water. A spring immediately sprang up at his feet. It was there that his head was struck off, as well as the head of the first Roman soldier, who was miraculously converted and refused to execute him. 

The Wallingford Screen of circa 1480. The statues are Victorian replacements (1884–1889) of the originals, destroyed in the Dissolution of the Monasteries, when the Screen was also damaged.[30] Statues of Saint Alban 

and Saint Amphibalus stand on either side of the Altar.

Photo: 1 August 2014.

Source: Own work.

Attribution: “Photo by DAVID ILIFF.

Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0”

Author: Diliff

(Wikimedia Commons)

However, immediately after delivering the fatal stroke, the eyes of the second executioner fell out of his head and dropped to the ground, along with Alban’s head, so that this second executioner could not rejoice over Alban’s death.[2]

In later legends, Alban’s head rolled downhill after his execution, and a well sprang up where it stopped.[5] Upon hearing of the Miracles, the astonished judge ordered further persecutions to cease, and he began to honour the Saint’s death.[2]

Saint Albans Cathedral now stands near the believed site of his execution, and a well is at the bottom of the hill, Holywell Hill.[5]

The Choir, Saint Albans Cathedral.

Photo: 1 August 2014.

Source: Own work.

Attribution: “Photo by DAVID ILIFF.

Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0”

Author: Diliff

(Wikimedia Commons)

The earliest mention of Alban’s Martyrdom is believed to be in Victricius’s “De Laude Sanctorum” (The Praise of Saints), circa 396 A.D. Victricius had just returned from settling an unnamed dispute among the Bishops of Britain.[6] 

He does not mention Alban by name, but includes an unnamed Martyr, who, “in the hands of the executioners told rivers to draw back, lest he should be delayed in his haste.”[6] The account closely resembles Alban’s Martyrdom, and many historians have concluded that this may be a reference to Alban, making it the earliest surviving reference to a British Saint.

The foundational text concerning Alban is the “Passio Albani”, or the “Passion of Alban”, which relates the tale of Alban’s Martyrdom, and Germanus of Auxerre’s subsequent visit to the site of Alban’s execution. 

World-first technology used to restore colour to 

Saint Albans Cathedral’s 15th-Century Wallingford Screen.

Available on YouTube

HERE

This “Passio” survives in six manuscripts, with three different recensions, referred to as T, P, and E,[8] the oldest of which dates to the 8th-Century A.D.[9] The T manuscript is in Turin, the P manuscript is in Paris and the E manuscripts (of which there are four) are at The British Library and Gray's Inn, both in London, and Autun (France) and Einsiedeln (Switzerland).

The “Passio” is very likely the source text of the more well-known accounts found in Gildas and Bede.

Another early text to mention Alban is the “Vita Germani”, or “Life of Saint Germanus of Auxerre”, written about 480 A.D., by Constantius of Lyon.[10] The text only very briefly mentions Alban, but is an important text concerning his nascent cult.

According to the “Vita”, Germanus visited Alban’s grave shortly after defeating the Pelagian heresy in Britain and asked Alban to give thanks to God on his behalf.

Division Of The Ecclesiastical Year.

Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless stated otherwise.

The Ecclesiastical Year begins on The First Sunday of Advent and ends on the Saturday following The Twenty-Fourth Sunday After Pentecost.

It is composed of Liturgical Seasons, or Times.

THE TEMPORAL CYCLE, or, PROPER OF THE TIME, reveals 

Our Lord to us in the Traditional setting of the 

great mysteries of our Holy Religion.

Simultaneously with this TEMPORAL CYCLE, is a secondary one, called THE SANCTORAL CYCLE, or, PROPER OF THE SAINTS, because it is composed of all the Feasts of those Blessed Souls in which the work of the redemption is already accomplished.

This Circle, or Cycle, is divided into two parts: 

That of Christmas and that of Easter.

Both of the Cycles containing these two great Feasts 

are divided into three periods: 

The time before the Feast;

The time during the Feast;

The time after the Feast.

Thus having for its aim:

To prepare the Soul for the Feasts;

Then to allow the Soul to Celebrate the Feasts with Solemnity;

And, finally, to prolong the Feast for several weeks.

Advent is comprised of four weeks, during which, 

with the Patriarchs and Prophets, we long for the Advent, 

or coming, of Our Lord.

Christmas brings before our eyes:

The Birth of The Word Incarnate, Who is born in us by Grace;

And The Epiphany, or His Manifestation to the World.

The Time After Epiphany includes from one to five Sundays; 

it recalls to us the hidden life of Christ at Nazareth, and manifests to us His Divinity.

This Cycle depends upon the Easter Moon 

and begins between 18 January and 22 February.

Nine weeks lead us up to the Great Feast of Easter.

These weeks are divided into three periods:

Septuagesima.

During three weeks, brings before us the Public Life of Our Lord and, with Lent, which follows it, gives us a summary of it.

Lent.

Which begins on Ash Wednesday, represents by forty days 

of Penance, the forty days’ Fast of Our Lord in the desert, 

in which we participate.

Passiontide.

Which comprises the last two weeks of Lent and brings home to us the last sufferings of Christ and His Death on The Cross. That, with Him, we may die to our sins.

Paschaltide.

Permits us to participate in the greatest of all the Feasts. 

It is at Easter, with its Privileged Octave, that our Soul, 

risen with Christ, lives with Him during forty days, 

whilst He Founds The Church and then ascends to Heaven 

on Ascension Day.

The Feast of Pentecost closes this period with the 

descent of The Holy Ghost into our Souls.

The Time After Pentecost.

Shows us during twenty-four weeks the fruits of holiness which The Holy Ghost and The Blessed Sacrament cause to develop in The Church and her Saints to the end of the World.

This last event is brought before us on 

the Last Sunday After Pentecost.

The Feast of Easter, the centre of the year, is

always Celebrated on the Sunday after the fourteenth day

of the March Moon. This day is counted only from the

twenty-first of March.

If it is Full Moon before the twenty-first of March, 

the Paschal Moon will be the following one; hence, 

the difference sometimes of a month.

In other words, the extreme dates for the Celebration of Easter are the twenty-second of March and the twenty-fifth of April.

The Sanctoral Cycle will follow in due course.

Historical Note.

Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,

unless stated otherwise.

In 1890, Pope Leo XIII established a Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes (Feast Day 11 February).

In 1907, Pope Saint Pius X extended the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes to The Universal Church.

In 1913, Pope Saint Pius X raised the Feast of The Seven Sorrows of Our Lady (Feast Day 15 September) to the Rank of a Double of the Second-Class.

In 1911-1912, Pope Saint Pius X transformed the Church’s Liturgical Calendar in such a way as to give the Christological Cycle preponderance over the Sanctoral Cycle, and, thereby, restore all things in Christ.

Pope Benedict XV (Reigned 1914-1922) extended the Feast of Saint Ephrem (Feast Day 18 June) to the whole Church, at the same time giving him the Title of Doctor of The Church. He also ordered the use of the new Preface of Saint Joseph and the new Preface of The Dead.

Pope Benedict XV extended to the Universal Church the following Feasts:

The Feast of The Holy Family (Feast Day Sunday within the Octave of The Epiphany);

The Feast of Saint Gabriel (Feast Day 24 March);

The Feast of Saint Raphael (Feast Day 24 October);

Where desired, the Feast of The Blessed Virgin Mary, (Mediatrix of All Graces) (Feast Day 31 May);

Where desired, the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus (Feast Day Thursday within Octave of The Sacred Heart).

Pope Pius XI (Reign 1922-1939) instituted the following Feasts:

The Feast of Christ The King 

    (Feast Day last Sunday of October);

The Feast of the Maternity of Our Lady 

    (Feast Day 11 October).

Pope Pius XI (Reigned 1922-1939) drew up a new Divine Office and a new Mass for the Feast of The Sacred Heart (Feast Day Friday after the Octave of Corpus Christi), which he enriched, in 1929, with a Privileged Octave of the Third Order.

Saint Alban. Proto-Martyr Of England. Red Vestments. Feast Day 22 June.

Saint Alban.

Photo: 27 October 2017.

Source: Evesham All Saints Church.

Author: Jules & Jenny from Lincoln, England.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Text from “The Liturgical Year”.
   By: Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B.
      Volume 12.
      Time After Pentecost.
      Book III.

Let the heavens rejoice; let the Island of Saints exult; and let all the Universe shout with her a song of victory. For now, indeed, has Earth been everywhere em-Purpled with the Blood of Testimony.

Alban, Proto-Martyr of fruitful England, seals today the conquest of the far West. Already, doubtless, even from the earliest days, Albion had yielded abundant flowers beneath the footsteps of the Spouse, whose giant stride had reached even unto her.

Later on, Eleutherius and Lucius had added the fresh charm of other plants to this new garden, wherein, far away from sterile Juda, the Man-God could forget the haughty disdain of the daughter of Sion.

Jesus loves, indeed, flower-beds exhaling the fragrance of confession and of praise; but still flowers of peace may not alone form the diadem of this powerful Son of the God of armies.

The story of Saint Alban.

Available on YouTube

HERE

The beauty He received from His Mother was enhanced by the Blood shed by Him in the great battle, and to obtain favour in His own eyes, the bride, too, is called upon to mingle her own brilliant Purple with the glistening Whiteness of His lilies.

Glory, then, to our Proto-Martyr ! Glory to him by whom Albion, fully arrayed for the nuptials of The Lamb, advances side by side with the most illustrious Churches, and takes her seat with them at the banquet of the strong !

From the heights of Heaven, the glorious Choir of Apostles and the White-Robed army of Martyrs are thrilling with joy, as in the brightest days of the three hundred years’ struggle, prolonged, perchance, on purpose to give ancient Britain a chance of sharing in their triumph.

Persecution was nearing its close; and even from British soil, the last to be touched by the tidal wave of Martyrs’ Blood, would deliverance come.

On 22 June 303 A.D., Alban, our new Stephen, died, breathing a Prayer for his murderers, beside the banks of a tributary of The River Thames; on 25 July 306 A.D., Constantine, having just escaped the snares of Galerius, was proclaimed at York, and he started thence to unfurl the Standard of Salvation to the whole World.

Later on, to the victorious combats of The Cross succeeded heresy’s contesting struggle to wrest from God Nations already won to His Christ in Holy Baptism. Whilst The East was going astray in misconceptions of The Incarnate Word, The West was carping at Doctrines concerning Free Will and Grace, a fatal stumbling-block which would be thrown in again at a more distant epoch.

Pelagius, the heretic here in question, was condemned by The Church, and the stone of error hurled against her gave but a passing shock.

The tomb of Alban was the curbing point of Hell’s efforts at that time, and here ended the final troubles caused by the Pelagian attack. Saint Lupus of Troyes and Saint Germanus of Auxerre, sent from the Continent to maintain the cause of Grace, ascribed to our British Martyr the whole honour of their victory, whereby Peace was given to The Western Church.

To show that this second defeat of Hell’s power was indeed the completion of that which a Century previously had ended the era of blood, these two Holy Bishops respectfully opened the glorious tomb, and united to the remains of our noble Alban some Relics of the Apostles and Martyrs, the fruit of whose triumph had just been definitely sealed.

For a thousand years were the depths of the abyss closed; years of power, years of honour for Alban, Venerated alike by each successive Race that lived on our British shore. The Anglo-Saxons outstripped the Britons in the magnificence of the structure they raised on the site of the Church formerly built over the Martyr’s tomb in the first era of his victory.

The Danes even considered his holy body to be their noblest conquest; and under the Normans, the Abbey, Founded by Offa of Mercia, beheld Popes and Kings concert together in raising its prerogatives and glory to the highest pitch.

No Monastic Church on this side of the Channel would compare with Saint Alban’s in its privileges; and just as Alban is counted England’s first Martyr, so was the Abbot of his Monastery held first in dignity among all Abbots of this realm.

For a thousand years, Alban too reigned with Christ. At last, came the epoch when the depths of the abyss were to be let loose for a little time, and Satan, unchained, would once again seduce Nations.

Vanquished formerly by the Saints, power was now given him to make War with them, and to overcome them in his turn. The disciple is not above his Master: Like his Lord, Alban, too, was rejected by his own. 

Hated without cause, he beheld the illustrious Monastery destroyed, that had been Albion’s pride in the palmy days of her history; and scarce was even the Venerable Church itself saved, wherein God’s athlete had so long reposed, shedding benefits around far and near.

But, after all, what could he now do, in a profaned Sanctuary, in which strange Rites had banished those of our forefathers, and condemned the Faith for which the Martyrs had bled and died ?

So, Alban was ignominiously expelled, and his ashes scattered to the winds.