James Shepherd was born in Liverpool 24 August 1826 and came to Ampleforth in 1836. He was a younger brother of D Maurus Shepherd of Douay d1890. He was clothed 14 August 1843 and professed 28 August 1844. He received his Orders as follows:- Minor Orders 25 June 1845; Subdiaconate 14 Decmber 1848; Diaconate 15 December 1848; Priesthood 1 December 1849.
In the autumn of 1845 BB Laurence Shepherd and Austin Bury were sent by Prior Ambrose Prest to St John's Abbey Parma so that they might do their theological studies under an accomplished Thomist, the Abbate Bianchi. Several letters are extant in which their studies and experiences are described [MS 240, Nos 25 and 27; MS 262 Nos 87, 91, 105, 107, 108, 112, 114]. But the disturbances of that revolutionary year interrupted their course and they returned to Ampleforth in the summer of 1848.
In the period 1849-55, Fr Laurence was actively engaged at Ampleforth as Prefect of the school and then as Novice Master. Bishop Hedley, in the sermon preached at his funeral, speaks appreciatively of his zeal and success in both capacities. He speaks also of his musical gifts, of a charming soprano voice, of his effective preaching and power of personal direction. A visit to Solesmes and Abbot Gueranger in 1853 was to prove a turning-point in his life, giving him that zeal for the liturgy which became the inspiration of his later career.
Fr Laurence was of a delicate constitution and it was deemed advisable in 1855 to relieve him of his exacting duties at Ampleforth and transfer him to the Mission. He was assistant at Bath 1855-59; and, though his health remained poor, he did good work in that parish. When Belmont was opened in the autumn of 1859, he was appointed Master of Novices and a Canon of the Diocese; but, though he welcomed the return to regular life and the work was congenial to him, he soon relapsed into a state of health which rendered him practically useless [MS 241 No 105] He returned to Bath in 1861; but continued in poor health, so that he was much absent from the parish and spent a lengthy period at Solesmes. MS 263 No 158 is a diary which he kept during a visit to Solesmes in Oct 1857. At length, in 1863, his appointment as chaplain at Stanbrook put him into congenial work and amid conditions where he was able to work happily and effectively for the remaining 22 years of his life. At Stanbrook he achieved a work which cannot be fully recorded here. On the material side, he assisted the Community greatly in the building of their church, so that they might be enabled to carry out the liturgy with the fullest dignity. He assisted them also in securing a reform of their Constitutions - on the lines of the Constitutions of Abbot Gueranger's Sainte Cecile - and by his conferences gave them regular and valuable instruction in the liturgy of the Church. [See Bishop Hedley's appreciation of his work, in the sermon already cited]. And, while chaplain at Stanbrook, he succeeded in producing an English translation of the greater part of Abbot Gueranger's Liturgical Year.
Fr Laurence was in several ways an unusual product of the Ampleforth and English Congregation of the mid-nineteenth century. Very few of his contemporaries shared in, or even understood, his zeal for the liturgy and for the traditional forms of monastic observance. As a consequence, himself and his activities were subjected to much unfavourable criticism and he was very generally misunderstood. All this, testifies Bishop Hedley, he bore with great sweetness and patience, and without giving vent to complaining.
He attended his last General Chapter, as Vicarius Monialium, in 1883, and was then obviously in failing health. His last months were a time of acute suffering, which he bore with great courage and patience. At length, lying at his own request on sackcloth and ashes, he died on 30 January 1885, and was entombed within the monastic church, in the Chapel of the Holy Thorn.
Appendix to Biography of Fr L Shepherd
The intimacy which Fr Shepherd was privileged to enjoy with Abbe Gueranger led to his paying a visit to England in the autumn of 1860 under circumstances singular in more respects than one. The occasion was the Solemn Dedication of the Pro-Cathedral of St Michael's, Belmont, to which, on the suggestion of Fr Laurence, the Abbot was invited by the Cathedral-Prior, Dom Norbert Sweeney. The incidents of the journey are told in numerous terms by Abbe Delatte in Vol II p215-6 of his Biography, and may be fittingly be quoted here.
'The itinerary,' he writes, 'was all mapped out for him; the first stage would bring him to the English Priory of Douai, and the Prior, Dom Adrian Hankinson, would then answer for the safe-conduct by land and sea of the traveller who was unaquainted with the English tongue. To this proposal the Abbe gave consent and on August 30 1860 he set out for Douai. His reception there was cordial, but was seriously marred by an unexpected trial when Dom Hankinson revealed to him that to make his appearance in England he must {?} put on a secular dress, for, by a law of 1850, any one wearing the religious habit in public did so at the risk of imprisonment. To this ordeal he must submit. Amongst the accessories of the secular dress were the high hat, the chimney-pot in common parlance, and the tight fitting clerical coat, a veritable straight-jacket, in which, once imprisoned, he was scarcely able to move, and still less to be recognized. The crossing and railway journey were accomplished with ease. Upon their arrival at Gloucester the Abbot of Solesmes stepped out bare-headed for inadvertently he had left his hat in the compartment and it was only his pitiful tone and accent which revealed the situation to Dom Shepherd. 'See, my son Laurence,' he explained, as he opened his arms for an embrace, 'see how they have treated me.' Dom Laurence ran to recover the mis-laid hat and once arrayed in it the Abbot of Solesmes was absolutely no longer to be recognized.'
The journey from Gloucester to Hereford and from Hereford to Belmont was made in company with a distinguished gathering of ecclesiastics and of religious on their way to the celebration, amongst whom were nine Bishops, three Mitred Abbots and a number of Religious of all Orders, Benedictines, Cistercians, Dominicans and Franciscans. The Bishop of Newport was Celebrant at the Ceremony of the Dedication while the sermon and felicitations fell to Archdeacon Manning and to Monsignor Ullathorne, Bishop of Birmingham. This function was looked upon as the most brilliant witnessed in England since the Reformation. The day following the dedication of the Church saw the inauguration of the Monastery. As enclosure was not as yet enforced the guests were allowed to explore it from floor to attic. Readers of his 'Liturgical Year' begged the privilege of being presented to the Abbot of Solesmes.'
To this narration of his Biographer we must add a brief reference to what followed. Dom Laurence by his company saved him from the inconveniences of a journey in a country strange to him and of which he did not know the language. Together they visited the Cathedrals of Gloucester and Bath and St Gregory's Downside; then Worcester Cathedral and Stanbrook Abbey. Next a call upon Dr Newman at the Oratory, Birmingham, followed by one to Oscott College and its President, Dr Northcote. York Minster and Ampleforth took them north from which they made a journey south to Peterborough and Oxford and finally to London for a visit to Fr Faber and to Westminster Abbey. Anxious to be back in his monastery, Canterbury was not visited and after bidding adieu to his devoted guide he set out again for Douai, this time under the conduct of Abbot Burchall, President General of the English Congregation. A graceful act of gratitude to him and to his fellow monks, as well of appreciation and good will towards the oldest surviving Congregation of the Order, was the Dedication to them in an illuminating Preface to the Encheiridion Benedictinum, a volume of over six-hundred pages which he published in 1862. In this the 'Holy Bible' is followed by St Gregory's 'Life of St Benedict', contained in the 2nd Book of his Dialogues and this again by a 'Fasculus pietatis in honorem S.P.B.', comprising Hymns by various Saints and incidents relating to the Saint preserved by tradition. The 'Mirror for Monks' by Abbot Blosius and the 'Exercises of St Gertrude', which breathe the spirit of the Holy Patriarch, combine with these to provide a treasure house of material for spiritual reading and prayers for all who cherish the cloistral life and the choir as Benedictines.
James LAWRENCE Shepherd 30 January 1885 1826 24 Aug Born 1843 Clothed 1844 Professed 1849 Priest 1855 Bath 1859 Belmont 1861 Bath 1863 Stanbrook 1885 30 Jan died (translator of many volumes according to Birt)