ST JOSEPH’S PARISH  - WEALDSTONE

An important day in the annals of the British Province of the Salvatorians is 9 July 1901, the day on which Father Jordan first set foot in England for the purpose of founding a house of the Society.

The following day, Father Jordan journeyed to Westminster for his first official interview with Cardinal Vaughan.  He had already met the Cardinal informally in Rome the previous year, when he had seized the opportunity of broaching the subject of a possible foundation in England, and the Cardinal had shown interest and approval.

Like the Cardinal, Father Francis Jordan was also an apostolic priest, a man of vision and faith.  His society had been in existence only twenty years, and by 1901 he had seen it established in Italy, Austria, United States, Switzerland, Hungary, Rumania, Poland and South America.  His greatest joy had been on 17 January, 1890, when the first four missionaries, two priests and two brothers, had left the Motherhouse in Rome for the extensive mission field in Assam, India, to which the Society, though still in its infancy, had been entrusted by the church.

By 1901 when Father Jordan came to England the Assam Mission seemed to be firmly established after its initial difficulties.  Once important factor had to be continually dealt with.  India was at that time part of the British Empire.  Hence Missionaries needed to be thoroughly conversant with the language of the ruling establishment, which was English, as well as with the local dialects of the people.  So it was only logical that Father Jordan would wish to send men to England, so that future missionaries could acquire proficiency in English, but also engage in apostolic work in what was still officially missionary country.

This, then, was the situation when our Founder presented his petition to Cardinal Vaughan on that July day over one hundred years ago.  The petition was favourably received, the necessary faculties and permissions were readily and gladly given, the Cardinal himself suggested a possible suitable place at Upminister in Essex.

The next day, Father Jordan, accompanied by an interpreter, set off for Upminister.  Not being able to find a suitable house, they retraced their steps as far as Hornchurch in the parish of Romford, where they stayed the night.  It seems that Father Jordan saw possibilities in this rural area as it was then, without delay they went back to the Cardinal, who gave his permission for an establishment there.  Immediately our Founder sent a telegram to a young newly-ordained priest, who was still finishing his studies in Rome.  His name was Odo Distel, who was also studying the language with two other priests who were destined to come to England later.  The telegram consisted of one word - Veni (Come) – and Father Odo set off immediately, arriving in London on 17 July.  On the very day of his arrival he was whisked off to Hornchurch, where Father Jordan’s lay companion had found a house which could be rented.  However, after six days of negotiations and several visits, the owner of the house changed his mind, and that was the end of the Hornchurch venture.

Nothing daunted, the Founder returned to Archbishop’s House, this time taking Father Odo Distel with him, and the Cardinal proposed their trying Dunmow in Essex, where there was already an iron church with an old house attached.  This looked favourable and they were welcomed by the Rector of Braintree.  But on going back to the Cardinal to make their report they met with another disappointment.  It had been brought to the Cardinal’s notice that another missionary society had already shown interest in Dunmow, so it was decided to abandon Essex and they were sent off in the opposite direction to Willesden Green.  When they arrived they were told that this rural area was not yet ready to be separated from the mother parish of Willesden, so that was another fruitless journey.  Back again they went to the Cardinal, this time the Vicar General, Mgr Fenton, gave them a letter of introduction to the Parish Priest of Harrow, and so on that same day, it was the 2 August 1901, they set off for Harrow-on-the-Hill.

Here was territory which had known Lanfranc, St Anselm, St Thomas a Becket; a place which had seen stirring events during the reign of the first Elizabeth, events which had given two local men, Anthony and Francis Page, as martyred priests to the church; St Robert Southwell, Poet and Martyr, at nearby Uxendin Manor on 20 June 1592, where he had said his last Mass to be offered in this area until Harrow Mission began again in 1873.

At the time of our Founder’s visit in 1901, the parish priest of Harrow, or Missionary Apostolic to use the correct title, was Father George Graham.  During his nine years in office he was responsible for the building of the church of Our Lady and St Thomas of Canterbury, and for the beginning of a parish school.  This zealous priest had already established a Mass centre in Wealdstone in 1898, saying Mass once a month in a public hall, which we believe was in the High Street opposite Grant Road.  We have to remember that until the end of the 19th Century, Wealdstone was part of a rural and agricultural area, and the Wealdstone we know today is comparatively new.  With the coming of the railway in 1873, the population grew slowly until it was made a separate ecclesiastical district in 1880, when it was given its present name.  But during the next twenty years there had been a rapid increase of population due to the arrival of industry, especially with the coming of Kodak in 1891.  So there was a real need for a Catholic mission.  But Father Graham and his little flock at Wealdstone had just suffered a major set-back; the public hall they had been using had been sold to the Baptist Congregation for their services.  However, as we know, God never shuts one door without opening another, and Father Graham was quick to see in the coming of the Salvatorians at that particular moment the hand of Divine Providence.

Father Jordan himself tells us that he was warmly received by Father Graham, who welcomed the idea of a Salvatorian establishment in the area.  On the very same day, he accompanied the Founder and Father Odo to Wealdstone, where they contacted an estate agent and looked at some houses.  Father Odo stayed on in Harrow for a few days, only interrupting his house-hunting to return to Whitechapel to take leave of Father Jordan, who went back to Rome on 5 August.  Our Founder had been in England exactly four weeks, during which time he had been occupied like St Paul in “Journeying often”, and was about to see his endeavours bear abundant fruit. 

Recently, one hundred years on, the present Superior General, Father Andrew Urbanski, was in Wealdstone to celebrate the centenary of Father Jordan’s coming to England.  He revealed the following from the notes made by the founder when he had returned to Rome.  “I believe the Society has great and fruitful tasks to fulfil in England.  The English are a noble people and through my travelling and stay in England I have learned to appreciate them very much.  First of all perseverance is necessary.  Without perseverance a difficult beginning will cause the whole enterprise to collapse.”

On 12 August, Father Odo found a suitable house in High Road called “Avondale”, which he was able to rent for one year.  He took possession on 16 August with the help of Father Graham, who lent him everything that was necessary to furnish a chapel and say Mass.  He said Mass there privately the next day, and Sunday 18 August 1901, saw the official opening of the permanent Catholic Mission of St Joseph at Wealdstone.

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