A message from Fr Rocks, Oratory Chaplain:

"At The Oratory, we had planned to hold our whole school Mass for this half-term today, an opportunity for us to celebrate St George together. The passing of Pope Francis last week meant that we had to edit our plans, so that we could mark his death. It is necessary for us to celebrate your achievements during Lent Term in our postponed "final assembly" today. Recognising those achievements is indeed a most worthy way of honouring St George. 

I thought I might share with you some of my reflections on St George and his co-patronage of England. He was named a Patron of England as recently as the year 1415, invoked under the title "Defender of the Realm". The Principal Patron of England is Mary Immaculate, Mother of God - the tradition claims England as Her Dowry. St George shares his patronage with Her and with St Edward the Confessor, the saintly King of England (and the patron saint that provided my own baptismal name). King Edward 1st invoked the powerful intercession of St George and his knights wore the Cross of St George on their armour. As recently as 1348, Edward III chose the cross of St George as the emblem of The Most Noble Order of the Garter, which endures to this day. The Cross of St George, together with the Cross of St Andrew and the Cross of St Patrick, form the "Union Jack", the flag of our United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. A United Kingdom in which we are indeed free to live together in harmony, with freedom of religion and expression. 

At The Oratory, we are an international community, a family drawn from many faiths and cultures. Today in particular, I want to recognise and congratulate those who are English by birth and by tradition. Sometimes, this is overlooked, especially when we think of diversity and inclusion. I myself am a British Citizen by birth, although born in another part of our United Kingdom. However, I have made my home and conducted my ministry to date in "The Realm", in England. The magnanimous welcome and opportunity that England has afforded to me for two decades is something I would do well to recognise and be thankful. So I invite all of us from different realms, territories, and lands to wish our English friends a blessed day!

We celebrate Mass in St Joseph at the end of the school day. During this celebration, I will bless an icon of St George that I have commissioned from a monk in a monastery near Athens. This icon I will then give as a gift to The Oratory School.

In a world troubled and uncertain, I invite you all to join me in not ceasing from mental fight ... till we have built Jerusalem in England's green and pleasant land."

Fr Rocks, Oratory School Chaplain