Oremus and its Predecessors
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The first was the Westminster Cathedral Record, started in January 1896 and selling at 6d a copy. This was intended primarily to encourage subscriptions to the Cathedral building fund. It contained regular progress reports by the architect, J F Bentley, accompanied by detailed scale drawings, together with lists of donations. Many of these were substantial - the Duke of Norfolk gave £10,000 (not far short of £500,000 today). Others paid for specific items in the Cathedral - a marble column cost from £50 while £33 bought 10,000 bricks. From 1899 the Record was included as a supplement to The Tablet. Although intended to be produced quarterly, a total of only eleven issues of the Record appeared, the last being in June 1902. By this time the architect was dead and a tribute to him from Cardinal Vaughan was included.
The Cardinal himself died in June 1903 and for several years there was no Cathedral magazine. Then came the long-running Cathedral Chronicle, a monthly started in January 1907 at 2d a copy or 3/- a year, post paid. By now, of course, the Cathedral was up and running and the Chronicle was less concerned with fund-raising. Its 34 pages, complete with black-and-white photographs and advertisements, contained addresses from the Archbishop, details of appointments and departures from Clergy House, articles on the liturgy, reports on the decoration of the Cathedral, on cathedrals elsewhere, on events in Rome, stories, poetry and a list of services and other events in the Cathedral.
The Chronicle ran for just over sixty years. It duly recorded the consecration of the Cathedral in 1910 and the succession of four new cardinals during the period. When it started the Cathedral was almost entirely bare brick. When it ceased the marble and mosaic to be seen today were almost all in place. The magazine continued to be produced during the 1914-18 War which, except for a paper shortage, affected the Cathedral remarkably little, and the 1939-45 War which affected it much more. During the former, the choirboys played a game called ‘buzz-one’ while the bombs fell, subsequently going out to pick up shrapnel. But they were evacuated for the latter. The Cathedral closed early because of the black-out, protective scaffolding surrounded the marble columns and baldacchino while bombs blew in windows and scarred the woodwork.
The last issue of the Chronicle was in December 1967. The period following the Second Vatican Council and the changes it introduced was a very difficult one for the Church. Meanwhile the production costs of the Chronicle, then priced at 1/-, had soared, requiring an annual subsidy from Cathedral funds of £600. A cheaper monthly magazine, the Westminster Cathedral News Sheet, more ecumenical in tone, appeared in January 1968 at a price of 6d. Initially consisting of eight pages, it was published without the in-depth articles and photographs of the Chronicle, though addresses from the Archbishop, a meditation, new appointments, the diary and the list of Cathedral services remained.
The News Sheet lasted for only forty issues. In May 1971 the very similar eight-page Westminster Cathedral Journal appeared at the same price, with the explanation that "for some time many readers have felt that the old title was incongruous, and we hope that the Journal will go on to increase in interest and literary merit." But its life was even shorter than the News Sheet, the last issue being in December 1973. Although it had increased in price to 10p at the start of 1972, the reason given for its demise, as with the Chronicle, was that production required a considerable subsidy from Cathedral funds which the Cathedral, faced with stringent economies at this time, could no longer afford.
Such was the inauspicious situation in 1974 when the Westminster Cathedral Bulletin was born. Initially of one or two sides of typewritten foolscap it necessarily contained little more than service times and the Cathedral diary. It was produced fortnightly, for the four years from October 1979 by members of the (now defunct) Parish Council, and it was free. Against all the odds the Bulletin not only survived but prospered and gradually expanded, to contain features on major events such as the Pope’s visit to Ireland in 1979. In April 1981 a charge of 5p was levied and the following September it became a monthly, with more expensive Special Issues being produced for major events such the Pope’s visit to the Cathedral in 1982 and (under the title Westminster Cathedral Journal) at Christmas 1982 and Easter 1983 and 1984.
The Bulletin underwent several metamorphoses, a new format being introduced in 1979 and again in 1985 and 1992. Over the years since it first appeared the Bulletin changed from being a rather scruffy typewritten sheet of paper to a fully fledged twelve page monthly magazine on glossy paper, containing articles, interviews, photographs a cartoon (Charlie Chaplain) and advertisements, as well as all the material previously provided concerning the Cathedral. As the 1990s progressed there was increasing use of colour in the design of the front cover, and occasionally colour photographs as well, particularly when special issues were produced such as that to commemorate HM the Queen’s historic visit to the Cathedral in 1995.
In 1996 a wide-ranging review of the Bulletin was carried out. A survey of readers demonstrated the popularity of the magazine but suggested more photographs, more colour and greater coverage of Cathedral and parish news, suggestions which have been incorporated in subsequent issues. It was also felt that the name itself, suggesting the rapid transmission of news, was inappropriate. Ideas for a new title included the Chronicle, the Tower, and the Bell. Charlie Chaplain suggested Halo Magazine! What was needed was something illustrating the atmosphere and special character of the Cathedral. After much discussion the title finally agreed upon was "Oremus, The Magazine of Westminster Cathedral" For Oremus means "Let us Pray" in Latin and it is prayer which unites all those who worship here and the prayerful atmosphere of the Cathedral which our many visitors find so noticeable and so welcoming.
First published in Oremus, the magazine of Westminster Cathedral June 2001.
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