Thursday, February 7, 2013

A Proper Mass for Richard III Isn't Impossible

Update:  there's even a battle going on between York and Leicester.  Indeed, King Richard was the last Northern King.  There's also a petition you can sign if you're a citizen of the United Kingdom.

Edit: a few days ago it was finally confirmed that Richard III, one of England's last Catholic monarchs, did indeed find his last resting place beneath a car park in Leicester, England, after the fateful Battle of Bosworth Field.  It doesn't matter that he is an unlikely cause for canonization and that he did many evil things during his life.  St. Thomas More believed Richard was one of the most evil men of the age and got what he had coming to him, but could St. Thomas More have foreseen the remains of this devout Catholic King resting in unconsecrated ground?

Now that we know these battle scarred remains are those of Richard III, who was a devout, if poor, Catholic, it would be an edifying thing for England's Catholics, to see his bones put to rest according to our own Rites.  Perhaps a few may recall that it was we who first made the suggestion in September?

After all, if Dakota Indians can lay claim to the remains of people almost completely unrelated to them in Minnesota, why can't Catholics do the same for their own sacred grounds and dead?  Richard III was one of us.  He said the same prayers, he went to the same Holy Mass and believed the same Catholic Faith which was handed down to us by our fathers and mothers.  Moreover, is there any point in going into the fact that with its extreme trendiness, enthusiasm for the trends of the day, that the Church of England has long since ceased resembling anything Richard III would have recognized as a fitting Church, much less a Christian religion?

It's not just that it might be done, in a Rite fitting a Catholic King, but that it can be done.  A commenter on Australia Incognita Blog knows just the Bishop for the job, in fact, the local Ordinary of Leicester himself.



6 comments:

Archeopterix said...

Unless + Nicholls pushed for it it won't happen. And he won't.

Anonymous said...

+Nichols aside,if the Bishops would begin now and pursue this graciously but firmly I think it can happen. It would make Catholics happy with the state,first time in too long a time,and would harm no one else. As far as I can tell only those who would object would do only out of spite. Most Brits would not give a flip. The Queen could speak to Mr. Cameron and voila,done. It would show goodwill. Isn't it about time?

Tancred said...

+Amen

Anonymous said...

My comment seems to have been lost in cyberspace. I know how this proper Catholic burial can be accomplished.

Anonymous said...

Sir Thomas More and Shakespeare defiled King Richard as a murderer....as we all know, look to Henry VII for the true villain. Henry VII won the crown despite his extremely weak and illegal connection to the throne. Poor Richard...brutally murdered (yes, he died in battle...but read the atrocities to his remains)...this is a Catholic king....baptized a Catholic and crowned in a Catholic coronation. He deserves to be buried in a Catholic Church...with every respect due him.

Tancred said...

That's Saint, and I don't think Saint Thomas More was a hagiographer for Henry VII.