O Felix Roma! Henry Manning, Cutts Robinson and Sacerdotal Formation 1862–1872

On whit Monday, June 1st, 1857, the first general chapter of the Oblates of St. Charles Borromeo in the diocese of Westminster was held at Bayswater, one month before the splendid new gothic-conceived church of Thomas Meyer was solemnly blessed by Cardinal Wiseman and dedicated to St. Mary of the Angels, a title reflecting Manning’s enduring devotion to St. Francis of Assisi and the Franciscan Third Order. Subsequent building, extensions and additions were to be the work of John Francis Bentley. The founding group of Oblates was small, all its members being admitted as novices of the community on the day of the first general chapter. When the first biennial elections were held, Manning was confirmed by Wiseman as Superior and henceforth known to the community simply as ‘the Father’. Before the year was over the group was to be joined by three new novices and two postulants, all of whom eventually persevered in their vocation. By the time Manning died in 1892, the Oblates had been able to number a total of forty-six priests in their ranks in the space of only thirty-five years, thus easily outstripping the recruitment pattern of Brompton Oratory, the closest to the concept of the Oblates in both spiritual formation and organisation. Over the eighty years immediately following Manning’s demise, a further thirty-three priests were to be counted among the Oblates.