Basil Hume

Looking for God with a monastic master in contemplative prayer.

Following Cardinal Basil Hume's death on 17 June 1999, The Times concluded his obituary with a remarkable accolade: 'Few churchman in this century, inside or outside the Catholic Church, have died more deeply loved.' Basil Hume served as Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster for twenty-three years and his holiness and wisdom made him an extraordinary leader. In this enthralling biography, Anthony Howard, who has had unique access to Cardinal Hume's private papers and the people who knew him best, traces his life, from his Newcastle upbringing through to his schooling at Ampleforth and his reign at Westminster, including his long and ultimately successful fight on behalf of the Maguire Seven and the Guildford Four.

A full, rounded, yet critical study of Cardinal Basil Hume.

This timely volume marks the twentieth anniversary of the death of Cardinal Basil Hume (1923-1999), Benedictine monk of Ampleforth Abbey, Archbishop of Westminster. Hume's Benedictine spirituality and his personal dedication to prayer gave him the ability to relate to other pilgrims who seek the living and true God. Hume, the monk, pastor, and preacher, still speaks to contemporary Benedictines, the wider Church, and the world. Even though, as Hume stated, 'In our public life we move further and further away from God and the things of God', he added, 'in the hearts of men and women I believe that the yearning for God is becoming more and more intense'. That yearning, as this book demonstrates, was at the core of Basil Hume's search for God--for Hume, the way of a pilgrim.

Presents the late Cardinal’s personal reflections on themes such as prayer, solitude, and living the Christian life today. A beautiful book with full colour photographs.

A full, rounded, yet critical study of Cardinal Basil Hume. Cardinal Hume was a much loved man. Those who met him know why they found him lovable. This very personal book seeks to show and to explain to those who did not meet him why he was so much loved. Those who met him may also learn and understand more about their old friend. Chapters are by a variety of different people almost all of whom knew him very well indeed and have never until now written about the Cardinal. They show the warmth and humanity, the charm and humour and, above all, the deep spirituality of the man. There are delightful, entertaining stories never previously told, and pieces of material never previously published, including his own notes at the back of his prayerbook, and the last words he said to his fellow monks as he left his monastery to become Archbishop of Westminster. The Cardinal's life was not always an easy one. The book does not hide the personal challenges and difficulties he faced at different periods in his life, but shows that at the end, despite sometimes experiencing depression as he faced the problems of old age and failing health, he found peace and grace. A monk at Ampleforth who was his contemporary and knew him very well said of this book: 'it is like meeting him again'.

After the persecutions that followed the Reformation, the Catholic Church that re-emerged in the 19th century was a defensive, introspective one, largely made up of working-class immigrants and a handful of land-owning families who kept the faith despite adversity. It was viewed with some suspicion by the English Establishment as something foreign, subversive, to be held at arm's length. But particularly after World War II a new generation of educated Catholics emerged, outward-looking, questioning, anxious to take their places in society. Peter Standford argues that Basil Hume's appointment was a symbol of change. His very Englishness has exorcised some of the nightmares in the national subconscious about the Catholic Church. And in his struggles as a leader with a flock that is not as obedient as once it was, the cardinal has redefined English Catholicism by blending its traditional theological conservatism with a liberal pastoral practice.

Arising out of a game of "hide-and-seek" that Cardinal Hume played many years ago with two young children, Basil in Blunderland is a book to enchant and inspire. On the day the children invited him to play with them, he had not meditated, and as a monk he was required to do half an hour of mental prayer each day. How, he wondered, could he play hide-and-seek and, at the same time, meditate? As the book unfolds we see how each hiding place in fact became a place to pray and how each suggested thoughts about the spiritual life.