The Henson Journals

[61]

Easter Day, April 16th, 1922.

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I celebrated the holy Communion in the Chapel at 8 a.m. There were sixteen communicants viz: Ella, Lady Lawrence, Fearne, Lucie, Ruth Spooner, Aleck, John, Alexander, William, Frank, James, Mrs Berry, and 3 maids with myself. We were a various company, for Mrs Berry & Frank are Presbyterians, & Lucie is a Lutheran. Who could seriously maintain that I should better fulfil my duty as a Bishop if, instead of encouraging them to receive the blessed Sacrament, I warned them off as lacking episcopal confirmation?

I preached at S. Anne's at 10.30 a.m. There was a very small congregation. Also I celebrated the Holy Communion, & administered the Sacrament to about 50 persons.

In the afternoon I motored into Durham, taking with me the Lawrences and Ruth. We attended the service in the Cathedral, which was somewhat marred for me by the too–evident bickering of the dean and the Archdeacon, between whom my person intervened with the comfort and utility of a "buffer state" between two powerful kingdoms! However the music was excellent, and the great church has its own message, which not even the petty malignities of its temporary custodians can wholly silence. The procession round the Nine Altars has been abandoned, and neither the Dean nor the Archdeacon wore their red robes. There seemed to be an absence of heart & hope in the proceedings.

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