The Guild of Our Lady of Ransom is a charity, founded in 1877, which supports projects and initiatives in the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...

, through its grant programme and network of members.

History

In 1886, the Catholic priest, The Reverend Fr Philip Fletcher (1848–1928) established a ''Union of Intercession for the Conversion of England.'' A graduate of

Exeter College, Oxford Exeter College (in full: The Rector and Scholars of Exeter College in the University of Oxford) is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England and the fourth-oldest college of the un ...

, Fletcher was the son of Sir Henry Fletcher, 3rd Baronet, and curate at St Bartholomew's Church, Brighton. One of Fletcher's friends was the Catholic barrister and orator, Lister Drummond (1856–1916), who was a grandson of Thomas Lister, 2nd Lord Ribblesdale and a descendant of the Jacobite rebel,

William Drummond, 4th Viscount Strathallan William Drummond, 4th Viscount Strathallan (1690 – 16 April 1746) was a Scottish peer and Jacobite, who died at the Battle of Culloden. Pardoned for his part in the 1715 Rising, he raised a troop of cavalry for Prince Charles in 1745 an ...

. A year later, on 29 November 1887, Fletcher and Drummond established the ''Guild of Our Lady of Ransom'' to involve Catholics in evangelisation and the conversion to the

Catholic faith The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a p ...

of the people of

, in the restoration of those who have lapsed from the practice of their faith, and for the praying for those who have died who have no-one to pray for them. The Guild took two medieval orders as its model: the

Trinitarians , logo = Trynitarze.svg , logo_size = 150px , logo_caption = Flag of the Trinitarians , image = Signumordinis.gif , image_size = 200px , caption = Mosaic of Jesus Christ us ...

and the

Mercedarians The Royal, Celestial and Military Order of Our Lady of Mercy and the Redemption of the Captives ( la, Ordo Beatae Mariae de Mercede Redemptionis Captivorum, abbreviated O. de M.), also known as the Mercedarians, is a Catholic mendicant order es ...

. It was dedicated to Our Lady,

St Gregory Pope Gregory I ( la, Gregorius I; – 12 March 604), commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great, was the bishop of Rome from 3 September 590 to his death. He is known for instigating the first recorded large-scale mission from Rome, the Gregori ...

and the English Martyrs and took as its prayer as that of the Blessed Henry Heath on the scaffold at

Tyburn Tyburn was a manor (estate) in the county of Middlesex, one of two which were served by the parish of Marylebone. The parish, probably therefore also the manor, was bounded by Roman roads to the west (modern Edgware Road) and south (modern Ox ...

in 1643: "Jesu convert England, have mercy on this country". The Guild members (known as ''Ransomers'') were originally composed of ''White Cross'' (clerical), ''Red Cross'' (evangelical), and ''Blue Cross'' (supplicant) Ransomers. Thousands of Catholics enrolled in the Guild, including the

Cardinals Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

Henry Edward Manning Henry Edward Manning (15 July 1808 – 14 January 1892) was an English prelate of the Catholic church, and the second Archbishop of Westminster from 1865 until his death in 1892. He was ordained in the Church of England as a young man, but con ...

and

Herbert Vaughan Herbert Alfred Henry Vaughan, MHM (15 April 1832 – 19 June 1903) was an English prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Westminster from 1892 until his death in 1903, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1893. He was th ...

, Archbishops of Westminster, and

Saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...

John Henry Newman John Henry Newman (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890) was an English theologian, academic, intellectual, philosopher, polymath, historian, writer, scholar and poet, first as an Anglican ministry, Anglican priest and later as a Catholi ...

(as ''White Cross Ransomers''). The Guild was recognised and blessed by

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...

in 1900 who became its first President, and each Pope since then has served as President of the Guild. It was registered as a charity in 1965. The Guild's current Master is

Mgr M. G. Ramachandran (1917–1987) was the Former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. MGR may also refer to: * ManaGeR (MGR), graphical window system * Merry-go-round train, British freight-train design Mgr. is an honorific or abbreviation for: * Manager ...

John Armitage.

Activities

Pilgrimages For many years, the Guild has organised pilgrimages for its Ransomers to sites of devotion overseas, including

Marian Marian may refer to: People * Mari people, a Finno-Ugric ethnic group in Russia * Marian (given name), a list of people with the given name * Marian (surname), a list of people so named Places * Marian, Iran (disambiguation) * Marian, Queenslan ...

shrine A shrine ( la, scrinium "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred or holy sacred space, space dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor worship, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, Daemon (mythology), daem ...

s such as those at

Boulogne Boulogne-sur-Mer (; pcd, Boulonne-su-Mér; nl, Bonen; la, Gesoriacum or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. Boulogne lies on the ...

and

Halle Halle may refer to: Places Germany * Halle (Saale), also called Halle an der Saale, a city in Saxony-Anhalt ** Halle (region), a former administrative region in Saxony-Anhalt ** Bezirk Halle, a former administrative division of East Germany ** Hall ...

. It organised an annual pilgrimage to

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

from 1892. It also the first public pilgrimage since the Reformation to the

Basilica of Our Lady of Walsingham The Basilica of Our Lady of Walsingham, informally known as the Slipper Chapel or the Chapel of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, is a Catholic basilica in Houghton Saint Giles, Norfolk, England. Built in 1340, it was the last chapel on the pilgrim ...

on 20 August 1897. It also arranged pilgrimages in the British Isles, such as to

Glastonbury Glastonbury (, ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury ...

, and sites at

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

Holywell Holywell may refer to: * Holywell, Flintshire, Wales * Holywell, Swords, Ireland * Holywell, Bedfordshire, England * Holywell, Cambridgeshire, England * Holywell, Cornwall, England * Holywell, Dorset, England * Holywell, Eastbourne, East Susse ...

, Padley,

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, no ...

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...

Willesden Willesden () is an area of northwest London, situated 5 miles (8 km) northwest of Charing Cross. It is historically a parish in the county of Middlesex that was incorporated as the Municipal Borough of Willesden in 1933, and has formed ...

, and

Walsingham Walsingham () is a civil parish in North Norfolk, England, famous for its religious shrines in honour of Mary, mother of Jesus. It also contains the ruins of two medieval Christian monasticism, monastic houses.Ordnance Survey (2002). ''OS Exp ...

. In 2019, as part of the spiritual preparation for England's re-dedication as the Dowry of Mary, the Guild and

Our Lady of Walsingham Our Lady of Walsingham is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus venerated by Catholics, Western Rite Orthodoxy, Western Rite Orthodox Christians, and some Anglicans associated with the Marian apparitions to Richeldis de Faverches, a pious English peo ...

organised a two-year ''Dowry Tour'' of England's Catholic Cathedrals, including Liverpool's Metropolitan Cathedral, and

St John's Cathedral :''This list is for St. John the Evangelist Cathedrals. For St. John the Baptist Cathedrals, see St. John the Baptist Cathedral (disambiguation)'' St. John's Cathedral, St. John Cathedral, or Cathedral of St. John, or other variations on the name ...

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

. Ransom and Dowry Grants The Guild organisation, supported by a network of members, offers grants to parishes and churches in England and Wales. With an emphasis on evangelisation, the Guild aims to enable parishes, ministries and individuals to promote Catholicism. It has two programmes: ''Ransom Grants'' and ''Dowry Grants''. Ransom Grants support parishes which are in need of funding, and especially those which are working on evangelistic and formative projects. Dowry Grants support new and innovative works of evangelisation which promote the Catholic faith.

Masters

Publications

The Guild has published various books and pamphlets over the decades, including the following titles: General Pamphlets * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . Pilgrimage Pamphlets * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . Biographical Pamphlets * . * . * . * . * .

References

External links

* {{portal bar, Religion, , Christianity , United Kingdom , Catholicism , Society 1877 establishments in England Charities based in England Organizations established in 1877 Guilds in England