Appreciations of Teresa Helena Higginson: at St. Alexander's, Bootle

On taking a teaching post at St. Alexander's school, Bootle, Teresa became the penitent of Fr. Edward Powell, the first of two spiritual directors who were to be her guides for the rest of her life.  Both these priests had daily opportunity of knowing Teresa in school and the parish and would have heard many of the accusations made against her when she became an object of controversy.  Yet neither wavered in their belief in her.  What calibre of men were they?

St. Alexander, Bootle, with the school to the left

Fr. Edward Powell (1837 - 1901) early showed a talent for languages and as a student in Rome had won a gold medal in Hebrew against all comers.  After ordination he returned to the Liverpool diocese and became secretary to Bishop Goss.  As a young priest he volunteered to minister to victims of a fever then raging, took it himself and for two weeks lay at death's door.  In 1866 he was appointed to the new mission of St. Alexander's and afterwards made priest - in - charge.  During 13 years of incessant toil he built the church, school and presbytery, and on being transferred to Lydiate worked with like zeal there.  He was a devoted shepherd to his flock - in the pulpit, at the altar, in the people's homes, with a zeal that drove him out to the highways and byways.  His piety was deep and his austerities included the discipline and hairshirt.  After his death his confessor declared his belief that he had never stained his baptismal innocence by any deliberate venal sin, and said that as a confessor and director of souls he had discharged his duties "to the utmost perfection of his gifts".

Fr. Edward Powell

Such was the priest who guided Teresa during her early years at St. Alexander's and put her under obedience to write out her life and spiritual experiences. 

When in 1883 Bishop O'Reilly ordered Fr. Powell to cease his direction of Teresa the latter's curate Fr. Alfred Snow assumed the task, not without heart - searching and prayer.  Recognising the responsibility of guiding a soul being led by extraordinary paths he set himself to the study of mystical theology.  I am afraid I can offer no more details about Fr. (later Canon) Snow than can be found in the books, but we know that in addition to undoubted piety he possessed administrative gifts that led to his being appointed chancellor of the archdioscese.  And as well as being a confessor to Teresa he was a most constant practical friend, e.g. it was Fr. Snow was secured for her a haven in St. Catherine's convent, Edinburgh, where his sister was Mother Superior.  On his deathbed in 1922 he declared to Archbishop Keating "I feel it right to say that I have the firm conviction  that Teresa Higginson was not only a saint but one of the greatest saints Almighty God has raised up in his church."

Canon Alfred Snow

Our two main witnesses to Teresa's life in Bootle are Margaret (Minnie) Catterall and Helen Nicholson who later became Mrs. Lonsdale.  Both remained life-long friends and after death stalwart activists in her cause, giving their testimony under oath and leaving written memoirs.  Isabella Arkwright said that when she and they got together to talk about Teresa they would allow themselves three hours and then felt they had "only touched the surface".  Particularly valuable is the testimony of Miss Catterall who shared accommodation with Teresa, taught in the same school and often accompanied her on parish visits.  In her memoir published as "Minnie Catterall's Narrative" in 1936 she writes:

"I have never before or since seen of known anyone like her - a veritable model of perfection in all circumstances, the very essence of humility, a well of goodness and love of God.  In my mind she stands as the greatest handmaid of God's saints - in her ardent humility, in her intense love of her Spouse in the Blessed Sacrament, in her love of sufferings for His sake, and her complete abnegation of her own dear self.  The mere thought of her is one of my greatest comforts in life, and I shall ever remember what a debt of gratitude I owe to her even since her death, for the many and most remarkable favours she has gained for me."

Minnie - described by her niece as a striking personality - eventually became the headmistress of Holy Cross School, Liverpool, and in retirement lived in Wigan.  She died in 1935 aged 75.

Another witness for this time is Miss Agnes Donnelly.  She was then a schoolgirl but both her parents were on the staff of St. Alexander's and knew Teresa well.  She writes:

"My parents always spoke of Miss Higginson as a saint ... my mother knew her for many years and spent many hours in her company.  On her deathbed she suddenly said 'I wonder when the church will recognise Teresa's sanctity.'"  Her father was once heard to declare "If Teresa had been in an order of nuns she would have been canonised long before this."

On leaving St. Alexander's, Teresa returned home to Neston, and after teaching in village schools , spent the following summer as a guest of Minnie and Helen who were now in charge of a school at Newchurch in Rossendale.  Then we find her in Clitheroe in where she received the grace of the mystical marriage, or transforming union, with Christ.

St. Mary's, Standishgate, Wigan

The church of St. Mary, Standishgate, Wigan was were Teresa Higginson was based as a teacher in the Catholic school from 1873 to 1876 and was under the direction of the then rector Fr. Thomas Wells.  It was here in Wigan that her mystical life fully began in earnest.  She was to be given the marks of the stigmata on Friday of Passion week in 1874 and she underwent the mystical espousals on the Feast of the Sacred Heart later that year, the prelude to her ultimate mystical marriage to Our Lord in October 1887.  She was to write to Fr. Edward Powell:

“And when I was at Wigan in 1874, on the Friday morning in Passion Week, my Lord and my God gave me the marks of His five Sacred Wounds which I earnestly begged of Him to remove, but to give me an increase if possible of the pain. During all the following week they bled, and Fr. Wells saw one of them on the Good Friday, after which that disappeared, the others having done so earlier in the morning, and on several occasions they have reopened. This I think I have mentioned to you before but as I am not quite certain about it I thought it better to do so here.”

It is a fine church built in the pre - Pugin Gothick style that was widely fashionable at the time.  The first foundation Stone was laid on March 17th, 1818 , and the second one on April 23rd of the same year .  The Church was solemnly opened on January 27th, 1819,  in the years before Catholic emancipation in 1829. Unlike the fate that was to sadly befall St. Alexander's, Bootle in the 1941 blitz, this church is still alive and well although its life is in a much reduced form, and has been reasonably spared the liturgical vandalism that was befall so many 19th century churches in the 1960's and 1970's.  The parish has now been amalgamated with St. John's Church in the same town.

 

St. Winefride

St. Winefride, Virgin and Martyr, was a saint that Teresa was deeply devoted to and had many connections with.  Teresa was born in the saint's shrine town of Holywell, lies buried in the churchyard of St. Winefride's, Neston, Cheshire, and had a mystical life and piety much in common with St. Winefride.  And it could be said that having been decapitated and brought to life again, St. Winefride is connected to the devotion to the Sacred Head.  The details of her life are gathered from a manuscript in the British Museum, said to have been the work of the British monk, Elerius, a contemporary of the saint, and also from a manuscript life in the Bodleian Library, generally believed to have been compiled (1130) by Robert, prior of Shrewsbury.

St. Winefride, from  a window in the Holy Name, Oxton

She was born at Holywell, Wales, around 600 and died at Gwytherin, Wales, on 3 November 660.  Her father was Thevit, a Cambrian magnate, her mother Wenlo, a sister of St. Beuno. St. Beuno had led at first a solitary life, but afterwards established a community of cenobites at Clynog-vawr. While in search of a suitable place for a monastery he came to visit his sister's husband whose lands lay on a bluff overlooking the town of Holywell on the valley side of the well.  Tradition points this out as the spot on which the convent of St. Winefride was afterwards built. From this eminence there is a steep incline down to the stream and the well, and beneath this incline St. Beuno lived and built a chapel in which he said Mass and preached to the people. 

St. Beuno

Winefride was then one of his most attentive listeners. Though only fifteen years old she gave herself to a life of devotion and austerity, passing whole nights watching in the church. Prior to the conquest of Wales the saint was known as Guenevra; after that her name was changed to the English form of Winefride. She was a maiden of great personal charm and endowed with rare gifts of intellect. Under the guidance of St. Beuno, Winefride made rapid progress in virtue and learning and with her parents' consent prepared to consecrate herself to God.

The fame of her beauty and accomplishments had reached the ears of Caradoc, son of the neighbouring Prince Alen, who resolved to seek her hand in marriage. Coming in person to press his suit he entered the house of Thevit, and found Winefride alone, her parents having gone early to Mass. The knowledge that Winefride had resolved to quit the world and consecrate herself to God seemed only to add fuel to his passion, and he pleaded his cause with extraordinary vehemence, even proceeding to threats as he saw her turn indignantly away. At length, terrified at his words and alarmed for her innocence, the maiden escaped from the house, and hurried towards the church, where her parents were hearing Mass, that was being celebrated by her uncle, St. Beuno. Maddened by a disappointed passion, Caradoc pursued her and, overtaking her on the slope above the site of the present well, he drew his sword and at one blow severed her head from the body. The head rolled down the incline and, where it rested, there gushed forth a spring.

St. Beuno, hearing of the tragedy, left the altar, and accompanied by the parents came to the spot where the head lay beside the spring. Taking up the maiden's head he carried it to where the body lay, covered both with his cloak, and then re-entered the church to finish the Holy Sacrifice. When Mass was ended he knelt beside the saint's body, offered up a fervent prayer to God, and ordered the cloak which covered it to be removed. Thereupon Winefride, as if awakening from a deep slumber, rose up with no sign of the severance of the head except a thin white circle round her neck. Seeing the murderer leaning on his sword with an insolent and defiant air, St. Beuno invoked the chastisement of heaven, and Caradoc fell dead on the spot, the popular belief being that the ground opened and swallowed him.

Miraculously restored to life, Winefride seems to have lived in almost perpetual ecstasy and to have had familiar converse with God. In fulfillment of her promise, she solemnly vowed virginity and poverty as a recluse. A convent was built on her father's land, where she became the abbess of a community of young maidens, and a chapel was erected over the well. St. Beuno left Holywell, and returned to Cærnarvon. Before he left the tradition is that he seated himself upon the stone, which now stands in the outer well pool, and there promised in the name of God "that whosoever on that spot should thrice ask for a benefit from God in the name of St. Winefride would obtain the grace he asked if it was for the good of his soul." St. Winefride on her part made agreement with St. Beuno that so long as she remained at Holywell, and until she heard of his death, she would yearly send him a memorial of her affection for him.

After eight years spent at Holywell (reckoning from the departure of St. Beuno), St. Winefride, hearing of his death, received an inspiration to leave the convent and retire inland. She was welcomed at Gwytherin, near the source of the River Elwy, by St. Elwy (Elerius), who gives his name to the River Elwy, and by whom the first life of the saint was written. She brought her companion religious with her, and found there other nuns governed by an abbess. She seems to have lived at Gwytherin as an acknowledged saint on earth, first in humble obedience to the abbess, and, after the latter's death, as abbess herself until her own death. Her chief feast is observed on 3 November, the other feast being that of her martyrdom held on June 22nd. Her death was foreshown to her in a vision by Christ Himself. 

During her life she performed many miracles, and after her death, up to the present day, countless wonders and favours continue to be worked and obtained through her intercession.  After her death Winifride was interred at her abbey.  In 1138, her body was translated to Shrewsbury Abbey to form the basis of an elaborate shrine. On its way there it was laid in the hamlet of Woolston near Oswestry in Shropshire overnight, and a spring sprang up out of the ground.  The water is supposed to have healing powers and be good at healing bruises, wounds and broken bones.  The well is covered by a 15th-century half-timbered cottage, which is maintained by the Landmark Trust. 

St Winefride's Well Woolston

Another spring arising from the laying down of Winifred's body is at Holywell Farm, midway between Tattenhall and Clutton, Cheshire. There is a spring in the garden of this non-working farm which supplies two houses with their drinking water. The shrine at  Shrewsbury Abbey became a major pilgrimage goal in the Late Middle Ages, but it was to be destroyed by Henry VIII in 1540, and most the relics destroyed.  However one survived throughout penal times which is now at the Catholic parish church in Holywell above the well.

Shrewsbury Abbey

Holywell

  Holywell in Flintshire, North Wales, has been unique as the one pilgrimage site that has continued  unbroken despite the reformation and the penal laws, and it was here by remarkable providence on May 27th 1844 that Teresa Higginson was born.  She was to be also baptised here on June 22nd 1844, feast of the martyrdom of St. Winefride, after a long hiatus due to the shortage of priests at the time.  Her mother Mary Higginson was ill when expecting her, and went on pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Winefride's well asking for the saint's intercession.   Teresa and her family all their lives had great devotion to St. Winefride, frequently coming again and again on pilgrimage, and it was in the well that her stigmata was first publicly noticed.

 St Winefride's Well first erupted at the spot where her would-be rapist Caradog cut off her head with his sword. Restored to life at the prayers of her uncle St Beuno, Winefride became a nun and abbess until her second death some 22 years later. The extraordinary and enduring personality of this 7th-century Welsh woman has meant that she has been venerated as a saint ever since the moment of her death. Since that time, too, her well at Holywell has been a place of pilgrimage, with many miracles of healing in the waters.  Above is the chapel and crypt that was erected in the early 16th century, and the more recent bath added.  Below is the statue of St. Winefride by the well.

 

During the reformation and penal times pilgrims surreptitiously came to visit and bathe at the well, despite the attempts of the authorities to stamp this out, making records of who came to stay at the local inns and why.  King James II and his wife came on pilgrimage here asking for the birth of an heir to the throne.  After emancipation the Catholic church was built a short distance from the well in the care of the Jesuits, and in the late 19th century it became a very popular pilgrimage site for Catholics in the Northern cities, coming over by the trainload, causing Holywell to be known as the Lourdes of Wales.

Unfortunately the shrine was to go into steady decline in the 20th century, and 1921 coal mining cut off the source of the spring.  A new source of water was found and to everyone's relief, miracles continued to happen as before.  To cater for sick pilgrims a hospice was opened in the the care of the Sisters of Charity of St. Paul.  This was to close in the 1990's, but thankfully the Brigittine Sisters took it over and restored it, where they now run an excellent guest and retreat house with daily mass, prayers and exposition of the Blessed Sacrament.

 

The Catholic parish church is now in the care of the Vocationalist fathers.  The main pilgrimages are the official pilgrimage on the Sunday nearest the feast of St. Winefride's martyrdom on June 22nd, and the Latin Mass Society pilgrimage around early July.

 

 Brigittine Sisters, Holywell

The church of St. Winefride, Neston

This is the church in whose graveyard Teresa lies buried, and it was in Neston that her mother Mary Higginson and two of her sisters Louisa and Frances were to eventually settle. They stayed in the schoolhouse where Louisa Higginson was the headmistress of the local Catholic school, while Frances was a music teacher. Teresa was to stay with them often in the school holidays particularly around Christmas and Easter, causing them much worry as she was so often in a state of ecstasy!  It was here that she had some of her first revelations concerning the Sacred Head.

The church was built in the 1840's by A.W. Pugin and for much of its life remained a small country parish.  Teresa was to complain after her banishment here from St. Alexander's, Bootle that there was not always daily mass, the church was locked much of the time and that there was no exposition of the Blessed Sacrament.  In more recent years the church has been expanded by putting an extension on the north side, from which can be seen the sanctuary:

There is a story  about Teresa in when she was staying in Neston in November 1876: the parish priest Canon Daly went away, and there was a shortage of wicks to keep the sanctuary lamp burning.  Fearing it would go out, she ordered some more when an old priest called and handed her a box of wicks, and then intimated that he wished to say mass.  She prepared the altar for him and lit the candles, surprised to find that he knew where everything was.  She attended his mass and received communion.  When this was finished she went to get him breakfast, and then found he had disappeared without a trace, leaving all the vestments neatly folded.  On enquiring and giving the description of who he was, he turned out to be a deceased former parish priest who lay in the graveyard.

 

Teresa was to be buried here with her mother Mary Higginson  (died September 28th 1884) and her nephew Frederick Halifax (died August 10th 1877).  She died in Chudleigh, Devon on February 15th 1905 and her body was brought here by her sister Louisa in a private railway carriage.  For some time the grave was not marked with her inscription until 1930, and then in the late 1980's a horizontal slab was placed on it with prayers to the Sacred Head.  Nearby is the grave of Bishop Joseph Gray of Shrewsbury who retired in 1995, who was buried here according to his wish.

The first church of St Alexander, Bootle

This was the church that the servant of God Teresa Higginson loved so much, and where she was granted the privilege of daily communion.  She was a teacher for 8 years in St. Alexander's school (on the left of the photo) that was attached to it.  For most of that time the then rector Fr. Edward Powell was her spiritual director, and it was in lodgings in the parish that she wrote so many of her letters of her mystical experiences and about the devotion to the Sacred Head.  

Teresa stated in one of her letters to Fr. Powell that this church would become a major pilgrimage site and shrine to the Sacred Head, and that pilgrims would come far and wide.  Alas, this was not to be. It was destroyed in the May blitz of 1941, and its modern replacement was demolished in 1991 along with the school.  All that remains today is the presbytery on the right of the photo, now offices in what is an industrial wasteland.

The mission began in 1862 under Fr. Samuel Walker to serve the needs of the rapid influx of Irish migrant workers in the newly constructed Bootle docks, and at first mass was held in a hayloft behind the Mersey hotel in Derby Road.  Shortly after under Fr. Edward Powell funds were raised for the building of a permanent church with the foundation stone laid in 21st October 1866.  This was designed by A.W. Pugin and  dedicated to St. Alexander of Constantinople, the namesake of the then Bishop of Liverpool Alexander Goss. It was opened on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, 8th December 1867, with a high mass with orchestra in which the Dominican Fr. Bertrand Wilberforce was to preach.  The presbytery was completed in July 1876.

The church soon could not accomodate the large number of faithful, and a temporary chapel of ease was opened dedicated to Our Lady of Perpetual Succour in November 1878, lasting until May 1884 when the church east end was considerably extended to give more space.  Below is a postcard of the church c.1900:

 

Fr. Edward Powell remained the parish priest up to October 1885 when he was moved to Lydiate due to the controversy caused by stories spreading about Teresa.  The parish covered densely populated slums and courts in West Bootle near the docks, where Teresa would go on her missions of works of mercy, often bearing pails of pea soup in the school lunch hour for the poor.  His successor was an Irishman Canon Michael Beggan, who along with the other curates were to treat her very harshly.  He refused to bring her communion when she was ill and dismissed her from the school in 1886 on the pretext he needed to employ masters in the boys school. 

In its heyday in the Edwardian period it had a parish population of over 9000 and as many as six priests mainly from Ireland. It had a very rich life of masses and devotions, and was a center of the temperance movement: many sermons and missions on this were preached, at one point causing many of the local pubs and liquor stores to close!  In 1876 the Redemptorist fathers preached a mission in the church and started the Holy Family Confraternity: Teresa was to diligently persuade many families to join on her visits of the poor.  Twenty years later in 1896 on another mission, the Redemptorists found that there were too many confraternities in the parish to be workable!  Later a chapel of ease was opened in 1938 in Miranda Road: the church of St. Richard, which is now the present parish church of the area. 

In May 1941 the blitz came along targeting the docks, dealing the parish and the church a blow from which it was never to recover and which along with the decline of the docks and later urban redevelopment sealed their fate.  Bootle was to be the most heavily bombed borough in the British Isles.  The church was first severely damaged by a bomb on the night of May 5th destroying the Sacred Heart chapel and the sacristies, and then on the night of May 6th it was to be burnt down by an incendiary.  Much of the parish was to destroyed along with it.

A replacement church was built on the same site, and consecrated in 1957.  However it was short lived: it was to be closed and demolished in 1991.  Most of the streets and houses that Teresa knew and visited are all but a memory, and the area is a now desolate industrial wasteland.  More information is given in depth by the Liverpool History online project at these webpages: the Parish Timeline and the Marriage Index.