Watch Fr Holden's wonderful sermon at Tyburn

Every month Juventutem London pray a Rosary at Tyburn for the conversion of Europe. In February we were led by Father Marcus Holden, the parish priest Pugin’s church of St Augustine in Ramsgate, which has now been formally established as a shrine of the ‘the Apostle of the English’.

George Steven, who has recently moved to London and is working for the Latin Mass Society, wrote a very nice report about the evening on Facebook.

"The Rosary in the Crypt was introduced by one of the Sisters of the convent, who gave us a little history of the relics, one no doubt we had all heard before (for those who had been there before) but I found it a pleasant reminder, and put me in a good frame of mind.

We sang the Veni Creator Spiritus and then Father Marcus Holden, bore witness to the Martyrs as they related to him and his ancestors. I hesitate to call it even a homily, as it was very touching indeed. We then prayed the Rosary, all the time Father Holden weaving into the tapestry of the mysteries the lives of our English and Welsh martyrs.

The Fifth Mystery was sung in procession led by a little processional statue of Our Lady of Fatima to the actual location of the Tyburn Tree (some 150 meters up the road). It was a very touching scene; the strange looks, the whispers, the peeps of horns, at a little group kneeling around a little statue of Our Lady receiving a final blessing from a recognisably Roman Catholic Priest.

We then went to have a social at a local pub, having a private room (very nice I may add) to ourselves, where laughter and fellowship was the rule. It was a great pleasure to see many friends. And I thoroughly recommend it to everyone."

George is posting all the LMS events on Facebook so go and make friends with him today and if you use Facebook use the events pages to tell your friends about the pilgrimages and Masses that they organise.

Many thanks to Father Marcus Holden who came to lead the Rosary and to preach on the English Martyrs. I have been blessed to hear many wonderful homilies, but I must say this is one of the best I have ever heard. I am delighted to be able to share it with a wider audience. The first part of the video is our singing the Veni Creator Spiritus, which is a beautiful hymn to the Holy Spirit, composed in the ninth century by Blessed Rabanus Maurus. Unfortunately we didn't record the first verse. Father Holden's homily begins at 2.28.

   

The next Rosary is on Tuesday 3 April (Tuesday of Holy Week), 6.30pm, beginning at The Relic Chapel at the Tyburn Convent, 8-9 Hyde Park Place, London W2 2LJ and concluding at the site of The Tyburn Tree. Father Christopher Basden will give a meditation on Holy Week and Christ's Passion and then lead us in the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary. Afterwards we will go to the upstairs room of The Carpenters Arms pub, which is a particularly appropriate place for us to go because when the Tyburn gallows were taken down in 1783 they were made into stands for beer-butts in the cellars of The Carpenters' Arms. Everyone is welcome to join us for the Rosary. The social afterwards is for those 18-35 with an exception for priests and religious.

Do join us next time, either in person or in spirit!