Fr John Hunwicke, RIP

I am very saddened to report (via the Facebook page of the Oxford Oratory) that the great Fr John Hunwicke died on Tuesday, after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. As many of our readers know, he was a priest of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham; his blog, Fr Hunwicke’s Mutual Enrichment, has long been an incomparably valuable repository of wisdom, wit and erudition, and we have very often highlighted his articles here on NLM over the years. Many of his posts have been devoted to the defense of the authentic liturgical tradition of the Roman Rite, and the exposure of the scholarly impostures that underpinned its would-be replacement. This series which touched on the historical question of the epiclesis was a particularly fine achievement, one among many:

https://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2015/04/reforming-canon-of-mass-some.html

Fr Hunwicke and I corresponded a few times; he was very generous in allowing us to reproduce what he had written, and in his gratitude for some assistance I was able to provide him on some points of liturgical history. He is survived by his wife, children and grandchildren; let us pray for their consolation, and, of course, for his eternal repose.

Deus, qui inter apostolicos sacerdotes famulum tuum Joannem sacerdotali fecisti dignitate vigere: praesta quaesumus: ut eorum quoque perpetuo aggregetur consortio. Per Christum, Dominum nostrum. Amen.

God, who among the apostolic priests made Thy servant John to flourish with priestly dignity: grant, we beseech Thee: that he may also be joined unto their perpetual society. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.