The missal used by the priest who reconciled King Charles II with the Catholic faith has gone on display to the public.
The 1623 Missale Romanum belonging to Catholic Benedictine monk and priest Fr John Huddleston (pictured) is being shown at Old Moseley Hall in Staffordshire.
Fr Huddleston once saved King Charles’s life, provided him last rites, and oversaw his reconciliation with the Catholic Church.
Only some 70 years after it was reportedly bought for a sixpence from a second-hand shop in Liverpool, it was acquired by the National Trust in an auction following a generous donation by a member.
The book is richly replete with personal annotations and markings by the priest, demonstrating a particular rigour and piety.
The item is deemed as especially rare additionally due to being intact and one of only two copies of its kind in Britain. Its steep history makes it a notable relic in the history of English Catholicism.
Tim Pye, the National Trust’s national curator, said: “The Huddleston missal is a wonderful acquisition for Moseley Old Hall … crucial for our understanding of how Roman Catholic books were used and circulated.”
Old Moseley Hall, once home to the Whitgreave family (who offered shelter to both King Charles and Fr Huddleston), puts its recusant past on full display.
The very priest-hole and trapdoor which was used is available for public viewing, further bringing to life this dramatic and religiously- as well as politically- tumultuous chapter of English history.
Fr Huddleston, who was born near Leyland, Lancashire, had stayed loyal to the Royalist cause after Charles I’s defeat and execution at the hands of Oliver Cromwell.
When the executed King’s son’s first attempt at reclaiming the throne with Scottish forces failed, Fr Huddleston was on hand.
Charles fled after defeat by Parliamentarian forces at the Battle of Worcester on September 3 1651– after first hiding in an oak tree.
Without dry clothes, food, or shelter, the King was invited to Old Moseley Hall by Fr Huddleston, who took the initiative when he encountered the Penderell brothers guarding Charles.
He arrived at the hall seeking refuge on September 7 where Thomas Whitgreave gave him shelter and food.
Fr Huddleston was chaplain at the hall where the King was given a first floor room with a view of the approach to the house.
Sheltering the king was a team effort. Fr Huddleston was in constant attendance on the king; the priest’s three pupils acted as sentinels at vantage windows; Whitgreave made patrols along the garden.
On September 9, Parliamentary forces searched the house and questioned Whitgreave, a Royalist, but the King and Huddleston managed to successfully hide themselves in the priest hole and pass unnoticed.
From the hall, Fr Huddleston helped Charles escape to the continent where he remained for nine years before coming back to be crowned at the end of Cromwell’s protectorate.
On his deathbed, in the company of his brother, Charles accepted Huddleston’s invitation to convert to the Catholic faith after being told “Sire, this good man once saved your life. He comes now to save your soul.”
Fr Huddleston heard the king’s confession, received him into the Church, and administered him Viaticum.
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