The building has more than 300 rooms, with 250,000 square feet (23,000 m2) of floorspace,[3] including 124,600 square feet (11,580 m2) of living area, and was – until it ceased to be privately owned – often listed as the largest private residence in the United Kingdom.[4][5][6]
It is surrounded by a 180-acre (73 ha) park, and an estate of 15,000 acres (6,100 ha).
Text is from “The Liturgical Year”. By: Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B. Volume 8. Paschal-Time. Book II.
The Court of Our Divine King, during this grandest of Seasons, is brilliant beyond measure; and, today, it is gladdened by the arrival of one of the most glorious champions that ever fought for His Holy Cause.
Among the guardians of the Word of Truth, confided by Jesus to the Earth, is there one more faithful than Athanasius ?
Does not his very name remind us of dauntless courage in the defence of the Sacred deposit, of heroic firmness and patience in suffering, of learning, of talent, of eloquence — in a word, of everything that goes to form a Saint, a Bishop, and a Doctor of The Church ?
Athanasius lived for The Son of God; the cause of The Son of God was that of Athanasius: He who Blessed Athanasius, Blessed the Eternal Word; and he who insulted Athanasius insulted the Eternal Word.
Never did our Holy Faith go through a greater ordeal than in the sad times immediately following the Peace of The Church, when the Barque of Peter had to pass through the most furious storm that Hell has, so far, let loose against her.
Satan had vainly sought to drown the Christian race in a sea of blood; the sword of persecution had grown blunt in the hands of Diocletian and Galerius; and The Cross appeared in the heavens, proclaiming the triumph of Christianity.
Scarcely had The Church become aware of her victory, when she felt herself shaken to her very foundation. Hell sent upon the Earth a heresy which threatened to blight the fruit of three hundred years of Martyrdom.
Arius began his impious doctrine, that he who had hitherto been adored as The Son of God was only a creature, though the most perfect of all creatures.
Immense was the number, even of the Clergy, that fell into this new error; the Emperors became its abettors; and had not God Himself interposed, men would soon have set up the cry throughout the World that the only result of the victory gained by the Christian Religion was to change the object of idolatry, and put a new idol, called Jesus, in place of the old ones.
But He, Who had promised that the gates of Hell should never prevail against His Church, faithfully fulfilled His promise.
The primitive Faith triumphed; the Council of Nicæa proclaimed the Son to be consubstantial with The Father; but The Church stood in need of a man in whom the cause of the consubstantial Word should be, so to speak, incarnated — a man with learning enough to foil the artifices of heresy, and with courage enought to bear every persecution without flinching.
This man was Athanasius: And everyone that adores and loves The Son of God, should love and honour Athanasius.
Five times banished from his See of Alexandria by the Arians, who even sought to put him to death, he fled for protection to the West, which justly appreciated the glorious Confessor of Jesus’ Divinity.
In return for the hospitality accorded him by Rome, Athanasius gave her of his treasures. Being the admirer and friend of the great Saint Antony of Egypt, he was a fervent admirer of the Monastic life, which, by the Grace of The Holy Ghost, had flourished so wonderfully in the deserts of his vast Patriarchate.
He brought the precious seed to Rome, and the first Monks seen there were the ones introduced by Athanasius.
The heavenly plant became naturalised in its new soil; and though its growth was slow at first, it afterwards produced fruit more abundantly than it had ever done in the East.
Athanasius, who has written so admirably upon that fundamental Dogma of our Faith — the Divinity of Christ — has also left us most eloquent treatises on the Mystery of the Pasch: They are to be found in the “Festal” Letters which he addressed each year to the Churches of his Patriarchate of Alexandria.
The collection of these Letters, which were once thought to have been irretrievably lost, was found, a few years back [Editor: Abbot Guéranger was writing circa 1875], in the Monastery of Saint Mary of Scete, in Egypt.
The first, for the year 329 A.D., begins with these words, which beautifully express the sentiments we should feel at the approach of Easter: “Come, my beloved brethren, celebrate the Feast; the Season of the year invites you to do so. The Sun of Justice, by pouring out His Divine Rays upon you, tells you that the time of the Solemnity is come.
“At such tidings, let us keep a glad Feast; let not the joy slip from us with the fleeting days, without our having tasted of its sweetness”.
During almost every year of his banishment, Athanasius continued to address a Paschal Letter to his people. The one in which he announces the Easter of 338 A.D., and which he wrote at Treves, begins thus: “Though separated from you, my brethren, I cannot break through the custom which I have always observed, and which I received from the Tradition of the Fathers.
“I will not be silent; I will not omit announcing to you the time of the Holy annual Feast, and the day on which you must keep the Solemnity. I am, as you have doubtless been told, a prey to many tribulations I am weighed down by heavy trials; I am watched by the enemies of truth, who scrutinise everything I write, in order to rake up accusations against me and thereby add to my sufferings; yet notwithstanding, I feel that the Lord strengthens and consoles me in my afflictions.
“Therefore, do I venture to address to you the annual celebration; and from the midst of my troubles, and despite the snares that beset me, I send you, from the furthermost part of the Earth, the tidings of the Pasch, which is our salvation.
“Commending my fate into God’s hands, I will celebrate this Feast with you; distance of place separates us, but I am not absent from you. The Lord Who gives us these Feasts, Who is Himself our Feast, Who bestows upon us the gift of His Spirit — He unites us spiritually to one another, by the bond of concord and peace”.
How grand is this Pasch, celebrated by Athanasius, an exile on the Rhine, in union with his people who keep their Easter on the banks of the Nile !!!
It shows us the power of the Liturgy to unite men and make them, at one and the same time, and despite the distance of Countries, enjoy the same Holy emotions and feel the same aspirations to virtue.
Greeks or Barbarians, we have all the same mother-country, The Church; but that which, after Faith, unites us all into one family, is The Church’s Liturgy.
I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.
As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.
As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.
The 2026 Catholic Police Guild National Police Requiem Mass, the 103rd, will take place at 1430 hrs, Tuesday, 3 November 2026, at Westminster Cathedral.
Serving Officers/Staff – why not start making enquiries with your Force, asking to be released and your travel and (if possible) accommodation paid for, as you are representing your Force at a National Commemoration Service and representing a Nationally Recognised Staff Network.
If you need any advice on this matter, please let me know.
Paul Connolly.
National Chair - Catholic Police Guild of England and Wales.
Saint Athanasius, also known as Athanasius the Great and Athanasius the Confessor, was a Bishop and Doctor of The Church. He is called the “Father of Orthodoxy”, the “Pillar of The Church” and “Champion of Christ’s Divinity”.
Athanasius became Bishop, and Alexander of Alexandria’s Secretary, in 318 A.D., after being ordained a Deacon.
Around 323 A.D., Arius, an ambitious Priest of the Alexandrian Church, denied the Divinity of Christ, and began spreading word that Jesus Christ was not truly Divine.
Athanasius was present during the great Church debate and stood alongside Alexander of Alexandria during the famous Council of Nicæa, where the Nicene Creed was adopted as the Creed of The Church.
Five months later, Alexander died and Athanasius succeeded him after being unanimously elected. He was Consecrated as the new Bishop of Alexandria in 328 A.D., and continued the fight against Arianism.
Efforts to get Athanasius impeached began, and he was charged with various crimes. Even though he proved his innocence, Emperor Constantine commanded Athanasius to go to the Council of Tyre in 335 A.D. Athanasius was exiled for the first time.
After returning to Alexandria, two and a half years later, his enemies continued to try to exile him. He was completely vindicated by a Synod called by Pope Julius I, but was unable to return home to Alexandria until the death of the new Cappadocian in 345 A.D.
In 353 A.D., Athanasius faced more condemnations by the Arians in the Councils at Arles, France, and again in 355 A.D., in Milan, Italy. The persecutions escalated to physical attacks until Athanasius escaped and hid in the desert with a group of Monks for six years.
After returning to Alexandria in 361 A.D., he was exiled two more times until Emperor Valens permanently restored him in 364 A.D. Over the course of his life, Athanasius was banished five times and spent seventeen years of his life in exile for the defence of the Doctrine of Christ’s Divinity.
He died on 2 May 373 A.D., in Alexandria, Egypt. He is a Patron Saint of Theologians, and Faithful Orthodox and Roman Catholic Christians. To this day, Athanasius is hailed as a great defender of the Faith. His Feast Day is Celebrated on 2 May.
The Church, still covered with the blood of her Martyrs, had, in the 5th-Century A.D., to sustain the dreadful assaults of heretics. Arius dared to despoil The Divine Redeemer of all His Glory as Son of God; to make of Him a simple creature only higher in Grace than others.
God then raised up Saint Athanasius: “He fills him with the Spirit of Wisdom” (Introit), and “anoints him as Bishop of Alexandria, with His Holy Oil” (Offertory), for, as an athlete off Christ, he had to Preach The Master’s Truth, at the price of innumerable sacrifices (Epistle, Gospel).
In 325 A.D., Saint Athanasius was the herald of the illustrious assembly of the 318 Bishops who condemned Arius at the Council of Nicæa, proclaiming that Jesus was The Son Consubstantial with The Father. That is why he is often represented with a symbol of The Trinity as an emblem.
He died in 373 A.D., and was proclaimed Doctor of The Church.
Let us, like Saint Athanasius, affirm the Divinity of Jesus Risen Again.
Mass: In médio Ecclésiæ. Credo: Is said.
The following Text is from “The Liturgical Year”. By: Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B. Volume 8. Paschal Time. Book II. The Court of our Divine King, during this grandest of Seasons, is brilliant beyond measure; and, today, it is gladdened by the arrival of one of the most glorious champions that ever fought for His Holy Cause.
Among the guardians of The Word of Truth, confided by Jesus to the Earth, is there one more faithful than Athanasius ? Does not his very name remind us of dauntless courage in the defence of The Sacred Deposit, of heroic firmness and patience in suffering, of learning, of talent, of eloquence — in a word, of everything that goes to form a Saint, a Bishop, and a Doctor of The Church ?
Athanasius lived for The Son of God; the cause of The Son of God was that of Athanasius; he who Blessed Athanasius, Blessed The Eternal Word; and he who insulted Athanasius insulted The Eternal Word.
Never did our Holy Faith go through a greater ordeal than in the sad times immediately following the Peace of The Church, when the Barque of Saint Peter had to pass through the most furious storm that Hell has, so far, let loose against her.
Satan had vainly sought to drown the Christian race in a Sea of Blood; The Sword of Persecution had grown blunt in the hands of Emperor Diocletian and Emperor Galerius; and The Cross appeared in the heavens, proclaiming The Triumph of Christianity.
Scarcely had The Church become aware of her victory, when she felt herself shaken to her very foundation. Hell sent upon the Earth a heresy which threatened to blight the fruit of three hundred years of Martyrdom. Arius began his impious doctrine, that He, Who had, hitherto, been Adored as The Son of God, was only a creature, though the most perfect of all creatures.
Immense was the number, even of the Clergy, that fell into this new error; the Emperors became abetters; and, had not God, Himself, interposed, men would soon have set up the cry throughout the World that the only result of the victory gained by the Christian Religion was to change the object of idolatry, and put a new idol, called Jesus, in place of the old ones.
But He, Who had promised that the Gates of Hell should never prevail against His Church, faithfully fulfilled His Promise. The primitive Faith triumphed; The Council of Nicæa proclaimed The Son to be Consubstantial with The Father; but The Church stood in need of a man in whom the cause of the Consubstantial Word should be, so to speak, incarnated — a man with learning enough to foil the artifices of heresy, and with courage enough to bear every persecution without flinching.
This man was Athanasius: And everyone that Adores and Loves The Son of God, should love and honour Athanasius.
Five times banished from his See of Alexandria by the Arians, who even sought to put him to death, he fled for protection to the West, which justly appreciated the glorious Confessor of Jesus’ Divinity.
In return for the hospitality accorded him by Rome, Athanasius gave her of his treasures. Being the admirer and friend of the great Saint Antony, he was a fervent admirer of the Monastic Life, which, by the Grace of The Holy Ghost, had flourished so wonderfully in the deserts of his vast Patriarchate.
He brought the precious seed to Rome, and the first Monks seen there were the ones introduced by Athanasius. The heavenly plant became naturalised in its new soil; and, though its growth was slow at first, it, afterwards, produced fruit more abundantly than it had ever done in the East.
The Litany of Loreto is used to honour Mary, The Mother of God. The Litany recalls Mary’s unique role in our salvation history as The Mother of Our Saviour and invokes various Titles for her as a way of honouring her and reminding us of the role she has played.
The Litany owes many of its Praises to the Greek Akathist Hymn, which was first translated into Latin in Venice around 800 A.D.
The other Titles and Praises addressed to Mary are found extensively in the writings of the Early-Church Fathers of the first six Centuries A.D.
Over time, a number of Titles for Our Lady were removed and added to the Litany. Originally, the Litany had fifteen additional Titles, such as Our Lady of Humility, Mother of Mercy, Temple of The Spirit, Gate of Redemption, and Queen of Disciples.
Recent history has seen the addition of five Titles. The last four Titles of the Litany, which refer to The Immaculate Conception, The Assumption, The Rosary, and Mary as The Queen of Peace, are of recent origin. The latest addition, Mother of The Church, was added by His Holiness Pope Saint John Paul II.
Most likely, the Litany was composed in or around Paris between the years 1150 and 1200. It gets its name [Editor: “The Litany of Loreto”] from the Italian shrine (Loreto) where it was adopted in 1558. Pope Sixtus V approved its use in public Worship in 1587.
The Litany is used especially during May Services, the month Traditionally dedicated to The Blessed Virgin Mary. It is also used at Benediction, and some Congregations use it in the Divine Office. The Litany is approved for public use and carries a Partial Indulgence.
