Topic of Interest.
 
 
The Bute Processional Cross.
John Patrick, third Marquess of Bute converted to Catholicism in 1868. Soon after the announcement of his decision he took an extended cruise of the Mediterranean and a stay in Rome where he was confirmed by Pope Pius IX in February 1869. He returned to Cardiff for the summer and resumed his travels the following autumn. A year to the day after his reception into the Church he watched the opening of the Vatican Council as Pope Pius IX and 700 mitred prelates entered St. Peter’s behind a gem-encrusted silver processional cross which Lord Bute had presented to the Pope a few days earlier.
By a happy coincidence, 2005 witnessed this beautiful cross undergoing expert conservation, courtesy of David, Leonard and Richard Negri of Florida, U.S.A. in loving memory of their mother, Lorraine Negri. A visitor from North Wales, Mrs. Rosemary Abas was told of this work and, hearing that she was from Wales, obtained a description and a coloured photograph of the cross before it was returned to “The Office of the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff, Vatican City State.”
 
An account of this can be found in The Old Faith – Yr Hen Ffydd No. 14,
Spring 2005.
 
 

 

Associated with the interest aroused by the focus of Catholic History Day 2002 - the removal of an ancient church to St. Fagans Museum and its restoration as a Catholic church of about 1520 - must be the "Dowlais Chalice" and the pre-Reformation vestments to be found in Belmont Abbey and Our Lady and St. Michael's at Abergavenny. When the work on Llandeilo Talybont church is completed, we are assured that it will be possible to celebrate Mass there once again and the use of these historic elements will once again be used in this ancient setting.
 

THE DOWLAIS CHALICE

The Wars of the Roses were nearing their end. King Edward lV was on the throne of England. It was twenty three years before Christopher Columbus would discover America. The year was 1469. A Welsh poet, Dafydd Ddu o Hiraddug - believed to be a priest also - was visiting Paris. He decided to have a chalice made and on its base engraved, in medieval French, are the words "The poet Dafydd Ddu o Hiraddug, son of Grufydd ap Meredydd had this chalice made at Paris to pray God for these souls (or friends) April 1469 A.D."

How it found its way to the parish of Dowlais in the mid nineteenth century is something of a mystery but Father Cronin puts forward a theory in an article he wrote for the St. Peter's Magazine in 1927.
This wonderful relic of pre-Reformation craftsmanship was an object of interest at the display mounted at the Catholic History Day in May 2001.
A leaflet, containing Fr. Cronin's article is available free of charge and will be forwarded on receipt of a stamped, addressed envelope sent to WAMCHS, Pastoral Resources Centre, 910 Newport Rd, Rumney, Cardiff CF3 4LL



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