Fr Matthew Hulley dies
JUST about 2pm on Sunday October 7, Fr Matthew died peacefully in the monastery infirmary.His body was brought into the Abbey Church on the evening of October 10 after which Vespers of the Dead was sung. The Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on the afternoon of October 11, following which he was buried in the monastery cemetery.‡
Homily by Fr Abbot at Fr Matthew's Funeral Mass on October 11
I’VE never found the gospels particularly helpful in providing us with insights to use at the requiem mass of an old man like Father Matthew, Uncle Herbie, as he was known to his family. The reason for this is simply that all whom we hear of dying in the gospel are young people, and most of the funerals we conduct are those of old people. As it is those who die young that Christ comes across in the gospel, he tends naturally to speak of death as a tragedy, however brief, before he reveals his teaching on the resurrection.
Young and old, of course, are promised the resurrection if they remain faithful to the Lord in this life. Father Matthew was an old man. Indeed, although I have known him for forty years, he always seemed to me an old man, and when we pray for such a one at his requiem mass, we pray a prayer of thanksgiving for the fullness of his earthly life from which we have all benefited in various degrees, and we lay before God the example of that long life of service to his Lord, hoping that God in his mercy will be mindful of it.
When I turned right at Chievely on Tuesday afternoon on my way back here, I noticed a stationery van carrying the words, ‘Hope and Clay...Surveyors’, which I think gives us some inkling of how older disciples of Christ reflect on the mystery of death.
Father Matthew Hulley was one of the best examples of an English Benedictine, and especially of a Douai monk. That I know, not only because he enjoyed his pipe and his snuff, but, more importantly, because he successfully combined a life of prayer, active ministry and study, and, perhaps despite himself, developed all these by an unstinting commitment to his vow of obedience. He was able to feel at home in both monastery and mission. He was born and bred in our parish of St David’s, Swansea, where his father was the choir-master, and despite seven years with the Jesuits at Stonyhurst College, whose picture hung on his wall until the day of his death, he finished off his education at Douai School in 1931.
It was Father Matthew who began a weekly Sunday mass at Theale in the Lamb Hall, after his ordination in 1938, before he was sent to the north-east, as curate in Blyth and Bedlington. In 1977, as the last monk in my home parish of Birtley, he handed that parish over to the diocese after 400 years in Benedictine hands, having just built the primary school at Ouston.
For Father Matthew, Durham and Northumberland became his adopted country, and his affection for that land of the Prince Bishops can be measured by the inordinate space he gave to the Northumbrian saints in his martyrology which he composed for the community and which we still use daily.
When he returned to Douai in 1949 after his first decade on the mission, he taught variously dogma, moral theology, church history, patrology, liturgy, and homiletics. For he belonged to that generation of Douai monks in the 1920s and 1930s who were autodidacts - all his academic training was done in-house - and consequently, his interests were wide-ranging.
He was also remarkably resilient, providing a continuity within the Community especially valuable in that era of flux which followed the Second Vatican Council. For most of us, he was the only real claustral prior we knew, having been appointed by Abbot Mooney to that position in 1953, and having held it with honour for twenty-seven years. He acted as an acolyte and soul-friend to the normally aloof Abbot Mooney, and as a sort of door-bell for timorous members of the Community who wished to approach the abbot.
In recognition of his valued service, he was elevated to the cathedral priorship of Peterborough in 1973, a particularly high honour since the Community of that time were generally dismissive of such titular dignities.
He meanwhile composed new editions of the martyrology and necrology, and held the various offices of Councillor, Master of Ceremonies, Junior Master and Novice Master in turn, while in retirement, he catalogued the entire liturgy section in the library. Liturgy was his particular love, and his presence, if not his voice, graced all grand liturgical celebrations. Though he had no singing voice, he was a fine preacher, often invited to give celebrity sermons. His surviving notes on rubrics are meticulous - whether, for instance, Father Abbot should be wearing the summer cappa or the winter cappa, and as a soothing influence, he was appointed Chairman of the tempestous Liturgical Commission in the 1970s.
Father Matthew was also for many of us a rock of stability, with his deliberate pace, majestic instancy, and Roman nose held high, as he brought up the end of the procession. Such gravitas encouraged some good-humoured jests: about the delay to suppers as he chased the last pea around the plate and as he held back a zealous deacon from urging him to attend a meeting of Birtley Catholic Women’s League with the haughty taunt: ‘Royalty are always late’. In contrast to this hauteur, I think all would agree with me that Father Matthew was always interested in individual members of the community and their activities, and this was especially noticeable whenever one returned to Douai after some time away.
I return to his patient endurance in the last years of his life for which, I am sure, the Lord will recognise the sacrifices Father Matthew made. Patience, as we know, did not come easily to a man who could compensate for his small stature by unnerving fits of pique. But he entered well into his retirement- and we must remember that it was begun nearly twenty years ago. He took up oil-painting, although I could never figure out what he was trying to represent, and listening to opera through gigantic black earphones, and daily morning walks in a pixy anorak on the monastery pitches. His health gradually declined: a series of minor strokes were followed by declining hearing and sight. But there remained a toughness about him - have you ever known anyone but he come out of a nursing home alive, and live for years afterwards, and who would have thought that having never driven, in his ninetieth year he learned to drive an electric scooter, though a great deal of left-hand skirting board suffered in the attempt. Just over a month ago, we celebrated his 70th year of being a monk, and now we are rightly celebrating the Lord welcoming a good and trusted servant into his promised kingdom. Thirty years ago, Father Matthew concluded his article on the Community’s missions in the north east with the words famously applied to St Martin of Tours: ‘If you wish me to go through with this, I can’t refuse the effort’ ‘non recuso laborem’, and that, I think, has been the key to his life among us as well as a pledge of his devotion to his Master.‡
Frs Matthew & Robert celebrate 70 years in monastic life.
JUST a few days before he died Fr Matthew Hulley OSB together with Fr Robert Richardson OSB, celebrated the 70th anniversary of their clothing as novices.
On September 20 1931 six young men were clothed as novices by Abbot Sylvester Mooney in the Parish Church of St Mary, which served as Abbey church from 1903 until 1933. Besides Fr Matthew and Fr Robert were Fr Edward Fairhead OSB who died in 1979 and Fr Mark Ackers OSB who had died in 1970, and another two who subsequently left monastic life.
Fr Robert taught Maths for many years in the school. He was the founder of the Abbey Printery which he ran until 1954 when he was sent as assistant priest to Cheltenham. Later, following a spell as assistant at Coventry, he served as parish priest in Alcester and then Stratford-upon-Avon before going again as assistant to Coventry.
On return to the monastery he was parish accountant and did many jobs in the community, including looking after the supply of petty cash and stamps. In recent months decreasing mobility has forced him to use an electric carriage, to get to the refectory.
The community celebrated the anniversary at the end of the retreat in August.‡
Hospitality & Pastoral Developments
Visiting Groups
IN recent weeks we have hosted a number of diverse groups. Members of the Bankers Trust, attached to Deutsche Bank, came for a Day of Retreat on the Rule of St Benedict led by Fr Oliver Holt OSB. He also led two half days of Prayer for the staff of Bl Hugh Faringdon School. A group of students at the University of the Third Age came from Farnham to have a lecture-recital on our three organs. Fr Abbot led a Retreat Day for a group of Knights of Malta.
We hosted a Myers Briggs Workshop in November and two more are planned for the coming year. We also welcomed the Emmanuel Community from London.
Pastoral Programme
The Pastoral Programme continues to grow. New topics last term have included Medical Ethics. In the coming term in addition to the regular offerings we shall hold courses on Christian Poetry, The Second Vatican Council, in the fortieth year since its opening, a workshop on Priestless Parishes, preparing people for the future, and a talk on Reike.
As part of the Pastoral Programme also Fr Gervase Holdaway OSB led Days of Recollection for parish ministers at our parishes of Broadway, Worcestershire, and Studley, Warwickshire.
Spirituality-in-the-Workplace
Prior Dermot Tredget OSB continues to develop this part of our mission. Quite apart from the Retreat/Workshops he runs at Douai as part of the Pastoral Programme, since September he has given a paper The Rule of St Benedict and its influence on the Theology of Work at a conference of the British Association for the Study of Religions at Cambridge, conducted a workshop on the same theme for the commercial firm of Mars Pedigree, given a talk as part of Cranfield University Management Development Programme, written an article for the Journal of Managerial Psychology, attended a committee meeting of the Bloxham Project to promote spiritual and moral values in secondary education, as well as being part of a task group of the University of Surrey organising a conference entitled Living Spirit:-New dimensions in Work and Learning to be held next July. In addition to all this Fr Dermot has begun a D Phil at Oxford on Theology of Work.
If you would like more information about any of our programmes, or a brochure, please write or email the Programme Director at Douai.‡
Courses at Reading University
WE are continuing the courses we give at Reading University as part of the Continuing Education Department. This term Fr Gervase Holdaway OSB has given a ten week course:Prophets and Prophecy. In January Fr Dermot will commence a ten week course: Living with the Spirit in the Workplace. More courses are being planned for next year.
The University is continuing to use Douai for some of its Saturday Schools. On March 9 there will be a day school: Early Monasticism in England: Its Foundation, Work and Environment, dealing in particular with Westminster Abbey and Lewes Priory, the first Cluniac monastery in this country. Abbot Geoffrey Scott will be one of the lecturers.‡
Sing for the Homeless
THE third biennial concert Sing for the Homeless took place on Saturday November 24. The work was J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio parts 4 - 6.Sir David Willcocks was again the conductor. Some 450 formed the choir, seated in the nave and there were about 200 audience in the choir and sanctuary area. The professional soloists and orchestra all gave their services free, and in all £13,500 was made for the charity, the Cardinal Hume Trust, which provides accommodation and work-training for the Homeless.‡
New time for Vespers
VESPERS is now celebrated at 6.15pm every day. The extra ten minutes allows the kitcheners and refectorians ample time to get supper ready, while others have quiet time for extra prayer.‡
New appointments
FR Peter Bowe OSB has been appointed Junior Master in succession to Fr Romuald Simpson OSB, who has been appointed Parish Priest. His predecessor, Fr Terence Fitzpatrick OSB has been appointed coordinator of the celebrations for our centenary at Woolhampton.
The General Chapter of the Congregation appointed Fr Edmund Power OSB, who is Prior of Sant’ Anselmo, to be Procurator in Curia, that is the official representative of the English Benedictine Congregation in Rome.‡
Fr Romuald becomes Cathedral Prior of Coventry
ON the eve of our Patronal Festival of St Edmund, the President of the English Benedictine Congregation, Abbot Richard Yeo of Downside, honoured Fr Romuald Simpson OSB by appointing him Cathedral Prior of Coventry in acknowledgement of his work for the Congregation and for the Free Association of Benedictine Nuns.
The Congregation has kept alive the titles of the former Benedictine Cathedrals by appointing monks to the the title of Cathedral Prior. At present Fr James Donovan OSB holds the title of Cathedral Prior of Winchester, and Fr Matthew held Peterborough until his death in October. These days the appointments are usually welcomed by the cathedral authorities as an ecumenical link. ‡
Fr Romuald wearing his priorial regalia
Douai Abbey Newsletter No 14 Winter 2001
Douai Abbey Newsletter is published at Douai Abbey, Upper Woolhampton, Reading, Berks, RG7 5TQ. Phone: 0118 971 5300 Fax: 0118 971 5303 E-maildouaiabby@aol.com
06.12.01. Registered charity no 236962
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