Friday 1 December 2006

In Memoriam

I heard yesterday that Dom Bernard Orchard OSB, monk of Ealing Abbey, died on Tuesday, aged 96. I met him a few times as a University student and consulted his books of Biblical scholarship as a seminarian. He was a great promoter of the primacy of St Matthew's Gospel (as opposed to that of St Mark) and compiled a synopsis of the Gospels in Greek and English. He was also general editor of the celebrated Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture (1953) and in 1981 was named titular Cathedral Prior of Canterbury. His passing constitutes an end of an era - he was clothed as a novice at Downside way back in 1932 by the great Dom John Chapman, author of the Spiritual Letters and the maxim, 'pray as you can, not as you can't.'

Uniquely, another member of the Ealing community died on the same day as Fr Bernard. May they rest in peace.

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3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dom Bernard - may you rest in peace.

Father I hope you may give due consideration to his defence of Matthean priority....I'm sure he (Dom Bernard) was right...I am no expert but think that his greatest allies in later years were non Catholic - my guess is that there has been such a 'sell out' (from 19th Century - to now) from Catholic Biblical scholars that they may be some of the last to get back on board and uphold the truth of Matthean priority....and if Dom Bernard is right...just think of how much time has been wasted on all the theorising, commentaries etc based on false premises.

7:12 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sad day for us Old Priorians of St. Benedict's School, Ealing, London.

Recquiescant in Pace!

10:05 pm  
Blogger Fr Nicholas said...

I'm no expert either when it comes to these matters - can anyone recommend a good article about the Matthean priority, preferably on-line?

6:48 pm  

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