Last Saturday was the highlight of this journal’s anniversary year, when Mass was celebrated at Westminster Cathedral – 175 years after the first edition was published on 16 May 1840. Published below is the homily, given by the Archbishop of Cardiff At the Monmouth Assizes on 8 January 1840, John Frost was found “guilty with mercy” of leading the march of the Chartists from the deprived valleys of South Wales to the city of Newport. The Chartists were demanding what we would call today their “human rights”. The march ended in a bloody confrontation with the military in which 22 Chartists died. One of the commanders of the soldiers was described as “a fine peninsular volunteer”. His name was Captain Stack! The years between 1840 and 1850 mar