Obituary Notice
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Fr. OSWALD Bennett (1884-1956) OBITUARY NOTICE OF REV. FATHER OSWALD OF THE CROWN OF THORNS, C.P. "A few more years of faithfulness to Jesus, and He will remove the veils; then shall we see the King in His beauty; then, please God, we shall take our place in the throngs that worship Him, and then their song will be ours." When Father Oswald wrote these words in hi s book, "This Royal Way", he still had more than twenty years of "faithfulness" ahead of him, years of active Service that showed no sign of abating until cut short so abruptly and tragically last February. On Sunday evening February 26th 1956 Father Oswald had been preaching a Lenten sermon at &t.Jonn's, Burscough, appropriately enough on the necessity of always being prepared; he did not feel very well after ‘reaching, but made light of it, and remained to say the 7,50 liass for the people on the following morning. His indisposition on the morning, however, was such that the housekecper who called him at half-past-six urged him not to offer lass that day. Father, however, insisted that he would not like to miss his Holy Mass, Besides it was a public Mass and the people would be disapnointed. However, when he failed to appear at 7.50, she went upstairs to call him again, only to discover that he had collapsed from a heart atteck and died at once on the landing. Father Superior of Gt.Gabriel's Retreat was immediately summoned. He was on the scene in abotit a quarter of an hour, and administered Extreme Unction conditionally. Father Oswald's body was brought back to St.Gabriel's on Thursday, and the funeral took place at St.Anne's Retreat, Sutton, on Friday. Father Oswald's elder and only surviving brother, Rev.George Bennetts an Anglican clergyman, too old and feeble to hazard the long journey to attend the funeral, was represented by a gentleman friend of the family. The suddenness of Father Oswald's death was a great shock to his community, and to the whole province, as he had enjoyed robust health for many years. Yet in recent years he had not infrequently spoken placidly and with calm realism of his death, as though recognising that his life was drawing to its close; and the manner of his own death only illustrated what he had written more than twenty years before : "There is only one door leading into the world, but there are thousands of exits, and many of them emergency ones." Father Oswald, who was 72, had a full and varied life. He was born on January 2lst 1884 in London; and like his equally distinguished contemporary, Father Urban, who died last November, was the son of a non-Catholic clergyman. He received his early education at Doncaster Grammar School, and later at St.Paulta School, Westminster, wuich G.K.Chesterton had attended only a few years before. In 1903 he prooeeded to Cambridge University, where he came under the influence of Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson, himself a distinguished convert from Anglicanism, and about whom Father Oswald often spoke in the warmest terms. Eventnlly he was received into the Church on January 30th 1906, at the age of 22, making his F rst Communion on February lst.
Re However, not the grace of Faith only, but the grace of a priestly and religious vocationjwas bestowed on him by God. In 2®° 1908 he went to our Novitiete in Broadway, where he was professed f\ a, year later on February 2ist 1909, After pursuing his student course at kiount Argus, Dublin, he was ordained priest on December 2lst 1°13. His first appointment after ordination was to St. Saviour's, Broadway, where he remained about nine months, and .then moved again to St.Joseph's, Highgate, in which retreat he was stationed from June 1°15 to April 1°17. By this time the first World Var had been in progress for nearly two years, and Father Oswald was appointed as chaplain to the armed forces overseas. Embarking in June 1917, he saw active service in the Middle East :! Salonika, Alexandria, the Suez Canal zone, and in the Holy Land. While in the Holy Land he had the consolation of offering the Sacrifice of the Iiass on Calvary, in Gethsamane and in the Holy Sepulchre. On his way to London towards the end of the War he was able to visit Ss. John and Paul's, Rome. But when he had left the army Father Oswald's travels were not over. In the summer of 191° he was appointed to Australia, at that time attached to this province. Here he spent six busy years, travelling far and wide through the bushlands, where he preached fifty missions and conducted thirty retreats. Returning home via the Phillipines and Japan and the United States, his apostolic zeal found further outlet : he preached missions and retreats and special sermons in Ohio and New York. His arrival in England (in May 1926) co .incided with the General Strike, and he would often later refer to this chilly homecoming with characteristic humour. He remained at St.Joseph's Highgate, for more than six years, and then moved to St.Mary's, Harborne, from which he was transferred in 1933 to St.Gabriel's, Ormskirk, which had just been opened. After a year there he moved again, this time to St.Faul's, Ilkley, where he was stationed for more than thirteen years. Then in 1947 he made the return journey to Ormskirk, to spend what proved to be his closing years as a member of the community of St.Gabriel's. Father Oswald's talents were as varied and as interesting as his travels : he excelled as a missioner, a retreat-master and an author, Altogether he preached some 140 missions in his active life, his last mission being conducted less than three years ago. His meticulous care and attention to detail in these missionary ventures was obvious enough at the time; despite his great experience in this field he would always prepare with the utmost conscientiousness, and invariably before leaving home for the mission, would humbly beg the prayers of the community for the success of the work. The same methodical care was also evident in his giving of retreats. Anyone who has had a retreat from him ~ and there are surely few in the province who have not, for he vary often gave our community retreets - willconfirm this. The solidity of his matter, the warmth of his manner, his skilful and original treatment of the subjects he chose, especially of the Sacred -Passion, were matters of common knowledge. A traditionalist, he would never desert the great fundamental truths or oustomary methods of treatment for any meretricious innovations, and would deplore that respect for the Blessed Sacrament was weakened by unnecessary levity in the Real Presence. Not that he himself believed in dispensing with humour; but he was alw-ys a sound judge of the appositeness of time and place.
Be The retreats he conducted numbered some three hundped in all, and were given to almost every rank in Catholic life :- priests, brothers, nuns, religious of a wide variety of orders, the numerous confraternities and classes of Catholic laity. He was much in demand also as a preacher for special occasions, triduums, panegyrics and, during the recent war, the frequent "novenas for peace", In 1929 the -occasion of the centenary of Catholic Emancipation, he preached the special sermon at Westminster 6athedral to vast numbers of people who had come from all the parishes in and around London. But his zeal was not confined to the spoken word ; it extended also to the written. He was gifted with an attractive style in writing, and used his talent with discrimination, humour and vigour. He wrote many artéles for the Catholic press, and contributed to many of the Oatholic magazines arid periodicals both ecclesiastical and lay. In 19354 he wrote and saw published a book on the Way of the Cross, "This Royal Way", which received high commendation from many quatters, and especial praise from the late Archbishop of Liverpool, Dr.Downey, who wrote the foreword. Yet this account of Father Oswaldts active career as missioner, preacher and writer should not distract our attention from his strong and humble inner life. As a religious and a Passionist, he was exemplary. In recreation he was affahle without affectation, and drew on his wide experience and culture so that interest was always stimulated. Yet he never took advantage of his seniority and experience to dominate : he was . 7 °. © always courteous, and endeavoured to draw out others. ‘As a much sought after confessor, he was wise and kindly, ever ready with a word of encouragement. With others less experienced in mission work he shared his own knowledge without ostentation, readily surrendering his own time to help, suggest, and instruct. His daily Mass was always offered reverently and devoutly, and it was obvious that the Holy Sacrifice was for him a source of consolation, Of the Sacred Passion he would speak in ardent terms, especially of the crowning with thorns, which was his own devotion; and he gave the impression that he had learned his gentle charity and patience at the foot of the Cross. "When we come to die," he had once written, “when we come to die on life's highway at journey's end, “when we are left Helpless and afraid, then shall we know our Divine Friend, for a friend is proved in distress." He himself met death alone, and suddenly, only a few hours after preaching the Word of God, away from the community life he had loved; but we may well hope that the Master whom .he had served so faithfully, for so many years, came to comfort him in his last moments, We may hope that the following désoription, with which he had concluded "This Royal Way" many years before, was his own experience at journey's end ! "Our Divine Friend will never fail us. The pressure of His wounded palm in ours will prevent our feet from falling; He will be there to stand at the foot of our Cross to cheer us when we come to die, to reveal Himself to us as He gathers us tenderly and joyfully to His arms ~ our eyes will be opened and we shall know Him - the King in His beauty will be the King in the brightness of His glory, and the Land that was once afar off, will be our eternal Home." MAY HIS SOUL REST IN PEACE.
Source: Obituary Notices, Provincial Archive, St Joseph's Province. Passionist Congregation.