The Guild of All Souls is an

Anglican devotional society Since the time of the Oxford Movement in the Church of England, there have been organizations whose purpose is the propagation of the Catholic Faith within the Anglican Communion. Each of these societies champions one aspect of Ritualism and Angl ...

dedicated to prayer for faithful departed Christians. As stated on its website, it is a "devotional society praying for the souls of the Faithful Departed, and teaching the Catholic doctrine of the

Communion of Saints The communion of saints (), when referred to persons, is the spiritual union of the members of the Christian Church, living and the dead, but excluding the damned. They are all part of a single " mystical body", with Christ as the head, in which ...

Objectives

The stated objectives of the guild are as follows: * The celebration of Requiem Masses. * Promotion of the

and the Resurrection of the Dead. * Promotion of The Sacrament of Healing. * Reservation of the

Blessed Sacrament The Blessed Sacrament, also Most Blessed Sacrament, is a devotional name to refer to the body and blood of Christ in the form of consecrated sacramental bread and wine at a celebration of the Eucharist. The term is used in the Latin Church of the ...

for the sick and the dying.

History

The Guild of All Souls was founded in March 1873 at St. James's Church,

Hatcham Hatcham was a manor and later a chapelry in what is now London, England. It largely corresponds to the area around New Cross in the London Borough of Lewisham. The ancient parish of Deptford straddled the counties of Surrey and Kent and there c ...

. It was originally called the Guild Burial Society, with Father

Arthur Tooth Arthur Tooth (17 June 1839 – 5 March 1931) was a ritualist priest in the Church of England and a member of the Society of the Holy Cross. Tooth is best known for being prosecuted in 1876 under the Public Worship Regulation Act 1874 for u ...

as the first president. The purpose of the Guild Burial Society was: The work of the guild soon attracted the attention of other churches in England, and from a small parochial group it increased rapidly in membership throughout England. In Chicago, 1885, an English delegation had a meeting with priests and lay persons of the Episcopal Church to build an American Branch. This was accomplished in 1889. In 1904 the Australian branch was founded in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. The National Shrine of the Sacred Heart at the Church of the Resurrection in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

is the headquarters of the American branch of the guild.

Anglican devotional societies

Since the time of the Oxford Movement (also known as the "Catholic Revival") in the Church of England (and its sister churches), there have been organisations with the purpose of propagating Catholic faith and practice within the Anglican tradition. The Guild of All Souls is among the most prominent of these societies, which include the

Society of King Charles the Martyr The Society of King Charles the Martyr is an Anglican devotional society dedicated to the cult of King Charles the Martyr, a title of Charles I of England (1600–1649). It is a member of the Catholic Societies of the Church of England, an Ang ...

, the Society of Mary and the

Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament The Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament (CBS), officially the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, is a devotional society in the Anglican Communion dedicated to venerating the Real Presence of Christ in the Eu ...

. Each of these societies promotes one aspect of Catholic faith and practice that is not emphasised by the Anglican churches as a whole. For the Guild of All Souls this is the promotion of the Catholic understanding of death and resurrection and prayer for Christians who have died.

Chantry chapel

The Guild maintains the Chantry Chapel of Saint Michael and the Holy Souls at the

Anglican Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham The Anglican Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham is a Church of England shrine church built in 1938 in Walsingham, Norfolk, England. Walsingham is the site of the reputed Marian apparitions to Richeldis de Faverches in 1061. The Virgin Mary is there ...

in Walsingham.Guild of All Souls
Chantry Chapel

References

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External links