Gerard Manley Hopkins at St. Katherine's Chapel, Lydiate (CTG)

[ChrisGeorge]

Gerard Manley Hopkins at St. Katherine's Chapel, Lydiate

O! Perfect of faith!
Although your chapel stands unroofed
to the grey Lancashire sky,
vast underbelly of God,
it is yeoman-builded, time-proved!

I, the poet-priest, escaped
from the vaporous slums of Liverpool,
sit alone in your house,
once host to Lent lilies, incantations,
companioned by elderflower, field mouse!

Katherine, I see your sainted life shine,
chiselled in the Lydiate reredoes,
I, the convert, know your face
that converted so many,
although dank grass chokes altar-space

--as I know the simple bearded ones
and their hands that thresh,
who drove you to your death,
fire-stump, heart scourging
beheaded end of mortal flesh.

Christopher T. George

[ChrisGeorge]

X is for St. Francis Xavier's Church, Everton where poet Gerard Manley Hopkins was a priest in 1880-1. See also church history at St Francis Xavier's, Liverpool: Parish History by Johnny Kennedy.

[theninesisters]

X is for St. Francis Xavier's Church, Everton where poet Gerard Manley Hopkins was a priest in 1880-1. See also church history at St Francis Xavier's, Liverpool: Parish History by Johnny Kennedy.

And have a picture of the church sir

Attachment 2029

[taffy]

X is for St. Francis Xavier's Church, Everton where poet Gerard Manley Hopkins was a priest in 1880-1. See also church history at St Francis Xavier's, Liverpool: Parish History by Johnny Kennedy.

Gerard M Hopkins also hated being in Liverpool !! He couldn't wait to get out

[ChrisGeorge]

Gerard M Hopkins also hated being in Liverpool !! He couldn't wait to get out

Hi Taffy

Yes I do know that -- as I tried to reflect in my poem. To give him his due, I assume Hopkins's health was not too great so it could have been as much for health reasons as anything that he wished to be out of Liverpool!

Chris

[Jericho]

Gerard M Hopkins also hated being in Liverpool !! He couldn't wait to get out

That's a SURPRISE! (Joke). I would have thought that an anglo-catholic-convert-Jesuit-Oxford movement member would have found much to do in Liverpools more colourful quarters.

Maybe he was more interested in the life of the spirit? From what I have read about him he wasn't all that fond of a life of the flesh. He seemed a bit (cough) scared to let himself go.