THE
P RTAL
December 2011
An Anglican Worthy:
Nicholas
Ferrar
Page 7
Anglican
Luminary
by Fr Keith Robinson
Up until
1536, it is said that a quarter of England belonged to the monasteries. In less than five
years over 800 monasteries had been dissolved by order of the king, and thus was swept away, in England,
a tradition of Christian living almost as old as the Christian Faith itself. For a long while, the monastic life
became a significant aspect of the “black myth” of Catholicism, which continues, arguably, to perpetuate
prejudice into our own time.
and his extended family and some
friends (evidently altogether about
thirty people) left London and the
secular life behind. They moved,
astonishingly, to the deserted
village of Little Gidding in the
depths of rural Huntingdonshire.
There had been no dwellings there
since 1594. Only a ruined manor
house and the ruins of St John’s
church survived. They bought the
manor and restored the house, and
also set about restoring the village
church, which became the heart of
the community’s life. The project
had the blessing of the Bishop of
Lincoln, and the strong support
travelled
of the Archbishop of Canterbury,
However, the rather cold and damp climate of the William Laud, who ordained Nicholas to the diaconate
fens was not conducive to his good health, and it was in the same year in Westminster Abbey.
on medical advice that he began to tour Europe. At
Of course, the community had no enclosure, no
first he travelled as a courtier in the retinue of James I’s
daughter, Princess Elizabeth, but he presently decided vows and no Rule as such. Unsurprisingly, it has
to continue alone. Passing through the Netherlands, provided a model for several twentieth century
Germany, Austria, Bohemia, Italy and Spain, he quickly Anglican communities. Each member worked hard
picked up the languages of those countries, to the to help establish the community’s self-sufficiency; life
extent that he was able to take up studies in Medicine was patterned on the Bible, and liturgically ordered
first at Leipzig and then at Padua. A particular pleasure according to the Book of Common Prayer – perhaps an
and interest was meeting with Jews, Protestant and indication of the versatility of that book. An unbroken
Catholics, and engaging in conversation with them. chain of prayer was established in the church. King
He especially got to know a number of Jesuits and Charles I visited three times.
Oratorians.
Nicholas died on the 4 December 1637, and is buried
Little Gidding
in the churchyard. The community did not survive
With his horizons thus considerably broadened, he for long after his death. It was always regarded with
returned to England in 1618, and promptly became suspicion by the Puritans, who called it the “Arminian
a Member of Parliament. However, his life was to Nunnery”, but the tradition that they eventually sacked
change dramatically, again, in 1626, when Nicholas it is now no longer thought to be true.
Nicholas Ferrar is in most
ways a surprising person to
have experimented with the
reintroduction of the religious life.
He was born in London on the
22 February 1592, into a family
involved in the London Virginia
Company. Able to read before he
was five, he seems to have been
something of a child prodigy. In
1605, at the age of thirteen, he
entered Clare Hall, Cambridge,
graduating in 1610, and being
elected fellow the following year. It
was in Cambridge that he met his
life-long friend George Herbert.