Rev. Msgr. Alfred Gilbey, R.I.P.
William M. Klimon
> The Times (London), Friday, March 27, 1998
>
> OBITUARIES
>
> MONSIGNOR ALFRED GILBEY
>
> Monsignor Alfred Gilbey, Roman Catholic chaplain to Cambridge
> University, 1932-65, died yesterday aged 96. He was born on July
> 13, 1901.
>
> Monsignor Alfred Gilbey was the last Roman Catholic priest of his
> kind - and had been for a considerable time. The phrase "living
> fossil" could have been coined with him in mind, and it was an
> impression latterly enhanced by his great age. But to his admirers,
> be might better have been described as an ambassador from the past.
>
> Every morning, until a few months ago, he went from his home in the
> Travellers' Club to the Brompton Oratory to say a 7.30 mass in St
> Wilfred's Chapel according to the old Tridentine rite. It was a
> measure of his status and diplomacy that the Vatican had granted
> him the rare privilege of permission to use that rite whenever he
> wished, while others (such as Archbishop Lefebvre) were
> excommunicated for doing so without consent.
>
> Until 1990, when an admirer lent him a chauffeur, Gilbey made his
> early morning journey to the Oratory on the 14 bus. Having a priest
> straight from the pages of an Evelyn Waugh novel climbing on board
> at Piccadilly must have made quite an impression on first-time
> users of the route. Often described as "the best dressed priest in
> England", Gilbey habitually appeared in frock-coat, gaiters,
> broad-rimmed hat and violet gloves. Occasionally he wore a top hat,
> and he was known to spend a full hour dressing in the morning.
> Anyone who had ever met him could identify him from the briefest
> description: there was no one else in England who dressed that way.
> Yet this elegance was more the expression of a love of order and
> tradition than a vanity.
>
> For Gilbey's attitudes, too, were those of another era. He held his
> beliefs with an absolute conviction, and the result was a grand and
> magnetic serenity which attracted many from a more uncertain era.
>
> Although he occupied no hierarchical position in the Roman Catholic
> Church, having been ordained "upon his patrimony" (that is, without
> being under a particular bishop), Alfred Gilbey was highly
> influential, particularly among the Catholic upper classes and
> among a generation of Cambridge undergraduates. During his 33 years
> as chaplain to the university there he instructed around 170
> converts. His widely distributed book We Believe (1979), an elegant
> and highly approachable distillation of the Catholic faith, is
> based on recordings that one undergraduate made of his own
> instruction. Gilbey insisted that the book be published
> anonymously, but it was widely known that he was the author.
>
> Because he moved in the loftiest circles and spent much of his time
> in London's clubland, it was possible to see Gilbey as a snob. But
> those who knew him well, or who had come under his influence,
> recognised that he was a deeply pastoral man who rooted his life in
> prayer. It was inevitable that his old-world values sometimes
> clashed with those of the modern era. The great changes in
> Catholicism which followed the Vatican Council must have caused him
> private pain. But he remained an absolutely faithful son of the
> Church, convinced that even when he could not understand why it
> moved in a particular direction, it must be right.
>
> One damaging conflict with contemporary values centered on his
> resignation from his post of chaplain of Cambridge University in
> 1965, when it was decreed that women be allowed into Fisher House,
> the chaplaincy headquarters. This led to accusations of misogyny.
> It was true that Gilbey would not countenance this change (he once
> said "I am totally opposed to change of all sorts on principle"),
> but as reasons for his inflexibility he cited the lack of space
> there and the existing provision for female undergraduates.
>
> He was often puzzled to find hostility to his rejection of the
> concepts of equality and democracy. This was because to Gilbey it
> was self-evident that different groups of people had different
> roles to play, and he could see nothing wrong with that. It
> certainly did not imply for him that one group was of less value
> than another. He could point to the misery that the abandonment of
> traditional values had caused. And the courtesy and conviction with
> which he explained his views could cause people to start to see
> wisdom in notions that had previously been anathema to them.
>
> Alfred Newman Gilbey was born in Harlow, the youngest of seven
> children. His father was a prosperous wine merchant (from the gin
> family) who had converted to Roman Catholicism in order to marry
> Gilbey's devout Spanish mother. The Gilbeys lived according to an
> age-old pattern of country life, which young Alfred imbibed from
> his earliest days. He inherited the values of that world from his
> father, together with a love of hunting and of heraldry, while from
> his mother he acquired both his faith and what he called his
> "Spanish toughness". Following her wishes, he was educated by the
> Jesuits of Beaumont.
>
> He decided to become a priest while still at school but first went
> up to Trinity College, Cambridge to read history. In 1924, having
> acquired a pass degree, he went to Rome to study for the priesthood
> at the Beda college.
>
> Gilbey was ordained in the private chapel of his childhood home,
> Mark Hall in Essex. His private means allowed him to enjoy
> considerable independence - he did not require maintenance in the
> form of employment from a bishop, for example - but he was
> discouraged from foxhunting. He took to beagling as a substitute, a
> habit which persisted into his nineties.
>
> After a brief spell as secretary to the Bishop of Brentwood, he
> took up the post of chaplain at Fisher House in 1932. He used his
> own money to finance the chaplaincy, and had Fisher House furnished
> to the high standards of a gentlemen's club. He was delighted to
> receive full marks for keeping an excellent table and cellar, as
> well as a tick for believing in God, in William
> Hamilton-Dalrymple's Good Priest Guide. Gilbey loved Cambridge, and
> the feeling was mutual for three decades.
>
> After he resigned as chaplain, Monsignor Gilbey (he was given the
> courtesy title by Rome in 1950) found himself homeless. But he was
> soon offered a permanent home at the Travellers' Club, and it was
> from there that he began to develop a new ministry, this time to
> his legions of friends. His venerable, slightly stooped figure soon
> became one of the sights of Pall Mall.
>
> Despite moving in such worldly circles, there was a certain
> asceticism to Alfred Gilbey. He might counsel a dinner companion
> against ordering a certain dish and then choose it for himself, as
> a gentle exercise in self-mortification. He was also more practical
> than his romantic exterior suggested. He once found an unattended
> baby in a pram outside a pub, went in to locate the mother, and did
> not leave before he had given her some money to help look after it.
>
> Gilbey remained impressively active well into his nineties. In 1995
> he toured the United States from coast to coast to promote a new
> edition of We Believe, and gave an interview to Mother Angelica,
> "the television nun". He also attended a remarkable number of
> funerals and memorial services, which were given instant kudos by a
> Court and Social page announcement that "Monsignor Gilbey was robed
> and in the sanctuary".
>
> In 1993 a collection of his favourite literary passages was
> published, under the title The Commonplace Book of Monsignor Alfred
> Gilbey. Gilbey described the binding theme of the book as being
> "keeping the jungle at bay". The collection, which includes
> extracts from Belloc, Santayana and Shakespeare, is a celebration
> of Gilbey's philosophy and of a world which has all but passed
> away. But he made clear in his preface that "anyone who wants to
> know what I think seriously about almost any subject has only to
> turn to We Believe by a Priest".
>
> In 1993 Gilbey was caused considerable pain by the public family
> embarrassment occasioned by the association of his great-nephew,
> James Gilbey, with the Princess of Wales. This was compounded by a
> rumour started by Anthony Gilbey that the Princess was receiving
> instruction from the Monsignor, which Gilbey dismissed as "the most
> frightful piffle".
>
> Alfred Gilbey outlived all of his siblings. He is survived by
> several cousins (including Sir Walter Gilbey) as well as nephews
> and nieces of various degrees of kinship.
_____________________________________________________________________
William M. Klimon ("13") wkl...@worldnet.att.net
wkl...@umaryland.edu http://home.net.att/~wklimon
University of Maryland School of Law
500 W. Baltimore Street
Baltimore, MD 21201-1786
James Hynes
William M. Klimon wrote in message <6fpe45$6...@bgtnsc02.worldnet.att.net>...
>
>> The Times (London), Friday, March 27, 1998
>>
>> OBITUARIES
>>
>> MONSIGNOR ALFRED GILBEY
Monsignor Gilbey was (in all practical terms) a priest of my own diocese of
Westminster, and was certainly held in high regard.
>> Monsignor Alfred Gilbey was the last Roman Catholic priest of his
>> kind - and had been for a considerable time. The phrase "living
>> fossil" could have been coined with him in mind, and it was an
>> impression latterly enhanced by his great age. But to his admirers,
>> be might better have been described as an ambassador from the past.
That is certainly true. He was a figure more from the 19th century than the
20th. Few is any other priests were as wealthy as him, and thus able to enjoy
such an independent way of life.
Many people speak nowadays of the Church seeking a "fundamental option for the
poor". Mgr Gilbey's "fundamental option", in terms of the society he moved in,
was for people at the other end of the scale. This however was no bad thing,
since the gospels remind us that entry to the kingdom of heaven for people
from the higher echelons on society is more difficult.
>> For Gilbey's attitudes, too, were those of another era. He held his
>> beliefs with an absolute conviction, and the result was a grand and
>> magnetic serenity which attracted many from a more uncertain era.
This is certainly true. I did not know him personally, but those who did
reported his kindness, serenity, and confident faith.
>> Although he occupied no hierarchical position in the Roman Catholic
>> Church, having been ordained "upon his patrimony" (that is, without
>> being under a particular bishop)
This would be impossible nowadays. His closest ecclesiastical relationship was
however with the Diocese of Westminster.
>> Because he moved in the loftiest circles and spent much of his time
>> in London's clubland
We must understand 'London's clubland' in its old-fashioned sense, rather than
its contemporary sense. Mgr Gilbey frequented "Gentlemen's Clubs" of the
Anthony Trollope variety; he was not a patron of the 'rave scene'.
>> It was possible to see Gilbey as a snob. But those who knew him well, or
>> who had come under his influence, recognised that he was a deeply
>> pastoral man who rooted his life in prayer.
All who knew him bear witness to this.
>> He was often puzzled to find hostility to his rejection of the
>> concepts of equality and democracy. This was because to Gilbey it
>> was self-evident that different groups of people had different
>> roles to play, and he could see nothing wrong with that.
In this he seems to hold fast to the mediaeval conception of both Church and
society that some are "born to rule" and others are "born to serve" and that
this is how the world has been structured by God. And he associated with the
ruling classes.
>> After a brief spell as secretary to the Bishop of Brentwood, he
>> took up the post of chaplain at Fisher House in 1932. He used his
>> own money to finance the chaplaincy, and had Fisher House furnished
>> to the high standards of a gentlemen's club. He was delighted to
>> receive full marks for keeping an excellent table and cellar, as
>> well as a tick for believing in God, in William
>> Hamilton-Dalrymple's Good Priest Guide.
It is good to be reminded of which qualities are most necessary in a priest.
Jim Hynes
Stephen Patten
William M. Klimon <wkl...@worldnet.att.net> wrote in article
<6fpe45$6...@bgtnsc02.worldnet.att.net>...
It is with sadness that I read, of all places, here of his death. Not
sadness because of any doubt over his spiritual whereabouts (if Cardinal
Hume spoke of Diana of Wales as being a saint, then he will find himself
short of suitable descriptions for Mgr. Gilbey), but sadness that the like
of his kind we will not see again. Mgr. Gilbey's Catholicsm was of the
sort that made the title "English Catholic" something to proud of. To
those who have not read it, "We Believe" is the clearest, integrated,
presentation of the Catholic Faith I've ever come across. If anyone in
the USA has difficulty finding a copy then e-mail and I'll see what I can
do.
Thanks, Mr. Klimon for the posting.
Stephen Patten
Stephanie Rendino
In article <6fqi6t$pe2$1...@nclient5-gui.server.virgin.net>,
James Hynes <james...@virgin.net> wrote:
>
>William M. Klimon wrote in message <6fpe45$6...@bgtnsc02.worldnet.att.net>...
>
>We must understand 'London's clubland' in its old-fashioned sense, rather than
>its contemporary sense. Mgr Gilbey frequented "Gentlemen's Clubs" of the
>Anthony Trollope variety; he was not a patron of the 'rave scene'.
Although the image it conjures up is pretty funny! (I knew what they
meant by "clubland", as in the kind Mycroft Holmes lived in.)