What was father byles christian name

The fact is I find myself unable to recognize the Anglican position. I do not, however, feel myself any more satisfied with the Roman position. I have given up going to Anglican communion, and have postponed my ordination as a deacon. His search for the truth led him, at long last, into the Catholic Church. On May 23, , he was baptized sub conditione at St. His sponsor was Francis Urqhart of Balliol College. Thomas Roussel Davids Byles left Oxford after his final examinations.

He went to Manresa for a retreat which was conducted by Father E. Purbrick, a close friend for the rest of his life. From Manresa he went to Germany to join his Catholic brother, then studying at Tuebingen.

In September, his brother went back to England and Thomas went to the Monastery at Beuron for a month or six weeks. While there he accepted the position of tutor to the second son of Prince von Waldburg-Wolfegg-Waldstein. The next few months were spent visiting religious houses, and in prayer and retirement in Yorkshire. Determining to study for the priesthood he went to Oscott, but found the climate too much for his frail health.

He continued his own studies while teaching at St. In he went to Rome to study for the priesthood at the Beda College. In February of he went to live in Longcott, Gunnersbury as one of the five founding members of the Catholic Missionary Society, a group dedicated to the conversion of English Protestants to the Catholic Faith.

In he was assigned to St. Helen's in Ongar, Essex. This scholar, one-time tutor of the German Prince, an intimate friend of Jowett, member of a highly articulate political family was, for seven years, until his death, in charge of a vast country mission, with a tiny church and very few people. He was known as a learned man, a good preacher, and a caring priest to his people.

He even taught boxing to some young men of Ongar, which was done in a shed behind the church, when they expressed an interest in the sport. It was the upcoming wedding of Thomas' brother William which prompted this particular trip abroad.

William had moved to New York to run a rubber business and had fallen in love with Katherine Russell of Brooklyn. William had asked Thomas to officiate at the ceremony which would take place at St. Augustine's Catholic Church. On Easter Monday, just two days before Father Byles set sail, Monsignor Edward Watson, a close friend from Brentwood, was visiting as he packed his things for the journey.

Their long conversation that evening ranged from the size of trunk Father Byles should take to the anxieties he had about his parish in Ongar. They spoke much of the Titanic , the voyage, and its safety. It was then that Monsignor Watson remembered and emphasised the danger of icebergs at that season. After the last glass of wine had been drunk, and the goodbyes had been said, Monsignor Watson let these ominous words slip from his mouth, "I hope you'll come back again.

He was able to make arrangements with Captain Smith to have the use of space on the ship in order to say Mass for the passengers of the Titanic since he had brought a portable altar stone and all accessories, borrowed from Monsignor Watson. A few hours later, while the Titanic lay at anchor at Cherbourg, he wrote to his housekeeper Miss Field back at his parish in Ongar, Essex:.

I first missed it getting out of the train at Southampton, but am inclined to think that I left it at Liverpool St. We arrived at Southampton in the boat train at At one we had lunch. We were then still in Southampton Water, but when we came out of lunch we were between Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight. The tender is a good sized boat of tons, but by the side of the Titanic she looks as though with a good crane we could lift her out of the water and lay her on deck without feeling any inconvenience.

The English channel was decidedly rough to look at, but we felt it no more in the roughest part than when we were in Southampton Water. I do not much like the throbbing of the screws but that is the only motion we feel I shall not be able to say mass to-morrow morning, as we shall be just arriving at Queenstown I will write as soon as I get to New York He spent most of the day Saturday hearing the confessions of those who wished to avail themselves to this grace.

It was Low Sunday; i. He said Mass first for the second class passengers in their lounge and then for the third class passengers. He preached in English and French on the need for men to have a lifebelt in the shape of prayer and the sacraments to save their souls when in danger of being lost in spiritual shipwreck in times of temptation, just as men require a lifebelt to save themselves when their lives are in danger of being lost in an actual shipwreck.

Of the very few passengers willing to brave the cold, Father Byles had been reciting the Breviarium Romanum , fully dressed in his priestly garb, while walking back and forth on the upper deck at the moment the Titanic struck the iceberg.

Descending to the third class and calming the people, Father Byles gave them his priestly blessing and began to hear confessions; after which, he began the recitation of the Rosary. He then led the third class passengers up to the boat deck and helped load the lifeboats.

On the morning of Sunday, April 14, he celebrated Mass for Catholics in the third-class section, many of whom were leaving Ireland, Continental Europe and even the Middle East for a new life in America. According to witnesses, Father Byles was out on deck praying his breviary shortly before midnight, when the ship struck an iceberg. When the captain ordered the launching of the lifeboats, Father Byles made his way to steerage, where members of his flock were trying to navigate the stairwells to the upper deck but in many cases found themselves trapped behind locked iron gates.

Father Byles calmly led third-class passengers to the boat deck, where the lifeboats were. Mockler also said she overheard a crewman trying to convince Father Byles to get into a boat, but he refused.

Meanwhile, entire families of British people in third class died. The owner of the White Star Line, Joseph Bruce Ismay , made the notorious decision to step aboard one of the last lifeboats, which was otherwise packed with third-class women and children who had escaped from steerage at the last minute.

Father Byles, on the other hand, prayed the rosary with his flock and granted absolution until the very end. To many he administered the last rites of the Church. Father Byles may have perished in the sinking, but like the theme song to the Titanic movie says, his heart goes on. Father Thomas Byles lived his message that some things are more important than mere self-preservation.

He showed that spiritual lifeboats can offer more lasting salvation than physical ones. Ashley Herzog is a journalist and writer from Cleveland.

Your source for jobs, books, retreats, and much more. Faith Short Take. Ashley Herzog April 14, Father Thomas Byles, who died in the sinking of the Titanic in And it was here he was to stay until he received a telegram that told of the forthcoming wedding of his brother, now resident in New York, and with it an invitation….

On board Titanic there were passengers of all social classes and of different nationalities and amongst them there were three priests: alongside the Englishman, a brother priest from Bavaria and another from Lithuania.

As the ship made its way into the Atlantic, Fr. Byles was in 2nd Class, but it was to be mainly in steerage, where many of the passengers were Irish, that he was to spend those initial days. On Saturday, April 13 th , he was hearing confessions for hours in preparation for the next day: Low Sunday. He could not have foreseen how prescient these words were to become only a few hours later. On that fateful Sunday, the afternoon was given over to more devotions before concluding with the recitation of the Rosary.

And, as night fell, the unsinkable Titanic ploughed on through the Atlantic with all appearing to be in order. It was an illusion, however, and one that was to shatter when later that evening at On hearing its shriek, Fr. Byles immediately descended below decks to steerage. There, as on all decks, fear was rapidly changing to a suffocating panic; the priest moved through the confusion realising that this was the moment not just for the saving of lives but also for the salvation of souls.

And as this thought came to him, he perceived what was now to be his role in this. Slowly, the frightened crowd in front of him quietened. He then called upon all present to make an Act of Contrition before, having explained the present dangers, starting the evacuation of women and children to the top deck, with the priest escorting these upwards through the various decks.

Needless to say, Fr. Byles paid no attention to such class distinctions and worked as quickly and as calmly as he could to usher the women and children he led to the lifeboats then being deployed. The one characteristic of the priest most in evidence, and most remarked on later by survivors, was his presence of mind throughout. It was indeed as if it was for this that he had been preparing all his life.

Seeing the first batch of women and children safely aboard lifeboats, and declining an offer to join them, he descended once more below decks. Nevertheless, very quickly it was becoming clear that there were not going to be enough lifeboats. Soon the priest was to stand on deck surrounded by many others who awaited rescue but who were now effectively stranded.

In the growing terror, Fr. Byles again refused the offer of a place in one of the few remaining lifeboats. Finally, all those stood on deck watched as the last lifeboat disappeared into the black horizon, and as they did so they knew that with it had departed all earthly hope. The band on deck changed to playing hymns, including Abide with Me. As its melody sounded across the deck, one often heard at funerals, some began to cry, some stared ahead blankly, whilst others fell to their knees with heads bowed as they gripped the ships railings, but there were those who continued to pray — one being the English priest.

This was the moment all Christian souls have to face, the final reality of the battle between life and death, faith and non-existence, and that moment had now come for those left on board, Fr. Byles included. He looked around at those stood, sat, or knelt in front of him — many of whom now looking to him; he noted too the first approaches of dark waters upon the deck….

Placing himself as high as he could, he raised his hand in one last act of blessing and absolution, then, remaining standing as he had done throughout, Rosary and its Crucifix in hand, Fr. Byles began once more to lead those gathered around him in the recitation of that ancient prayer as hymns continued to be played ….