THE leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, the Most Rev Vincent Nichols, celebrated mass in a St Albans church last month.
The Archbishop of Westminster was at St Bartholomew’s Church celebrating the 50th anniversary of the laying of the church’s foundation stone in 1962 by Bishop Cashman.
A casket containing coins was placed alongside the stone together with a parchment on which was written the history of the parish and a list of parishioners and benefactors who had contributed to the building fund.
At the time the stone was sprinkled with Holy Water and the cement was inserted using a trowel originally used by Cardinal Manning for the laying of the foundation stone of SS Alban and Stephen Church in 1877.
St Bartholomew’s will be receiving a visit from Bishop John Sherrington, Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster, next Sunday, October 7, to consecrate the new altar and re-inter the relics from the original altar along with a relic of St Bernadette.
Archbishop Nicholls is pictured above with Father Tim Edgar
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