In September 1916 Joseph Massey driving up from Gilling station in a waggonette was one of the foundation members of what was then the new Preparatory School, in the building just put up for it which is now the Junior House. He came from an Amplefordian background in as much as his home was always in our parish of Grassendale with Abbot Burge as parish priest. He went easily up the School, able at work, no good at cricket, useful at rugger, and more than useful as a middle and long distance runner, though unable to compete in his last year owing to a temporary leg injury. In a general way he was quiet and studious in the School, but he could be very lively and full of fun with chosen companions. His vocation developed early, already emerging in the Preparatory School; and in 1924 he entered the novitiate as a matter of course. From quite early in his school life he had shown an interest in church fittings and ceremonies so sacristy work came easily to him in the novitiate, and at a later date he found full scope for these interests when he became Master of Ceremonies, an office he fulfilled with great pleasure and efficiency for twenty-two years. He always knew just what had to be done, and if anything looked like going wrong, he always contrived quietly, unobtrusively, and smilingly to put it right before it grew disastrous.
At Oxford he read Chemistry, collecting a B Sc in addition to the ordinary BA, and he had a busy life when he returned. During the 'thirties, apart from his theological studies before ordination in 1934 and full teaching after it, he was at various times Master of Ceremonies, Assistant Novice Master, infirmarian in the monastery, and Assistant Master in the Junior House, all of which duties he performed with éclat except for his year in the Junior House for which he found he had not got the very special vocation required. Then in 1940 he became Housemaster of St Bede's. He was at first diffident about becoming a Housemaster, but soon settled down to it and was well liked for the fifteen years he was at it. In 1955 he was made Prior, relinquishing his posts of Housemaster and MC, but still retaining a heavy load of teaching in the School. He taught chemistry from the IV Form to the top of the School, sharing the Upper VI and Scholarship boys, including the present Abbot, with Mr Goodman. He was Prior for five years and it was during this time that his health began to show signs of deterioration and in 1960 he had to give up, but the next year he was able to take on the job of sacristan, which made him responsible for all the vestments and equipment in the Abbey Church; from 1963-66 he was also the monastery guestmaster.
An important part of his life was his association with the Lourdes Pilgrimage which began in 1953, and from that date he never missed going on the pilgrimage except two or three times when he was too ill. In the early days when his health was good, he was an immense help to the organiser, Fr Martin, who speaks of his availability at all times, his understanding as a confessor, the enthusiasm, joy, and faith which he radiated, and which was at the heart of every sermon he preached. In 1969 his devotion to our Lady of Lourdes and to the sick on the pilgrimages gained him the distinction of being made an honorary chaplain of the Grotto. An honour which pleased him very much, because he saw it as a mark of official appreciation for the devotion and hard work displayed year after year by the Ampleforth Lourdes Pilgrimage, though he would not have denied that the quasi-canonical dress which the chaplains wear on state occasions appealed to his taste for ecclesiastical ceremonial.
In 1968 and again in 1972 he had some sort of a stroke, and after the second one, which was followed by the onset of Parkinson's disease, he had to go to Lourdes as himself one of the sick. In the last few years he became unable to walk, and virtually to speak except in very brief sentences in an all but inaudible voice, but in spite of these disabilities he continued to take an interest in what was going on, and was conveyed into choir for Conventual Mass, Mid-day Office, and Vespers in his wheeled chair, which involved a complicated manoeuvre to stop him falling out in going up and down steps. He was pathetically anxious to take what part he could in the life of the place, and while he was still able used to coach one or two boys in chemistry in the guest room. His increasing disability must have been a great trial to him, but he accepted it as it came, humbly and with courage. Until the last few weeks he was able to concelebrate Mass in the Abbot's chapel and sometimes in the Church, and this must have been a great consolation to him. All during these last years he was cared for by a succession of Juniors who showed the greatest devotedness, skill and good humour. In the middle of February he was obviously sinking and was anointed, but he held on with remarkable tenacity, until at the end pneumonia supervened and he died peacefully on 15th March.
His life was of a piece. He was never given to speaking about himself, but apparently he never had doubts about his vocation, and from the start he accepted quite simply the monastic life as lived at Ampleforth, and took the wholehearted performance of it for granted as the foundation of all his activity. The depth of his spiritual life was shown first by his admirable monastic observance - it obviously never occurred to him that it could be otherwise - and by the real zeal for souls which was the inspiration of his devotion to Lourdes, and which caused him to give many eight-day retreats, mostly to nuns, in the first part of his priestly life. His physical incapacity in later years made even those who had known it forget that in his youth and prime he was remarkable for the energy and enthusiasm (bounce was the word used) with which he undertook whatever task fell to his lot. It was this, apart from competence in his subject, which made him a good teacher.
JOSEPH PAULINUS MASSEY 15 March 1977
1906 21 Mar Born Grassendale Liverpool
Educ Ampleforth
1924 22 Sep Habit Prior Bede Turner
1925 28 Sep$$ Simple Vows Abbot Matthews
1928 23 Sep Solemn Vows " "
1927-31 Oxford SBH Chemistry BSc
1932 16 Feb Minor Orders Abbot Matthews
17 Feb " " " "
19 Feb " " " "
24 Jul Subdeacon Bishop Shine
1933 23 Jul Deacon " "
1934 22 Jul Priest " "
1932-55 MC (ex 1935-6)
1934 Infirmarian
1935 Junior House (one year only)
1940-55 Housemaster St Bede's
1955-60 Prior
1963-66 Monastery Guestmaster
1961-68 Sacristan
1953-76 $$ Assoc Sp Director of Amp Pilgrimage to Lourdes
$$ 1969 Hon Chap ND de Lourdes
1968 Jun Stroke
1977 15 Mar Died pm at Ampleforth
Buried at Ampleforth