A senior Catholic bishop has commended Prince Philip and other members of a family who strive “every day to live out their duty as an expressly Christian calling”.
Bishop of Shrewsbury Mark Davies said at a Requiem Mass on the eve of today’s funeral that Prince Philip showed how power and authority in a nation is is entrusted to service.
He praised the “life-long service and personal engagement” of Prince Philip, echoing the sentiments of Pope Francis that the Prince’s “distinguished public service” was rooted “in his devotion to marriage and family and in his concern for the advancement of future generations”.
The fruit of such service, the Bishop said in his homily at the Mass in Shrewsbury Cathedral was “a myriad of good works”.
Bishop Davies said that the Catholics of the Diocese of Shrewsbury owed “a duty of prayer” to Prince Philip, who died in Windsor Castle on Friday April 9 at the age of 99, reminding the congregation that the “final duty of Christian charity is to pray for the dead that they may attain everlasting happiness”.
The Bishop also prayed that “the values of life-long commitment and public service, we saw along all the roads he travelled”, continue to flourish in generations to come.
Bishop Davies said: “Beyond the aura of a thousand-year-old monarchy, all of us come to know the members of this family through their life-long service and personal engagement with every corner of our land. They help to show us how all authority and power in a nation is given and entrusted for service. We recognise the human face of the members of a family who strive every day to live out their duty as an expressly Christian calling.
“Tonight, we share in the mourning of a family which in some way belongs to us all. We share a sense of loss at the death of Prince Philip, who was part of our national life for as long as most can remember.
“Pope Francis’s ‘heartfelt condolences’ to Her Majesty the Queen expressed sentiments shared across the world. In the past week, so many people, from all walks of life, have acknowledged her husband’s distinguished public service which had extended across the greater part of a century. That service was rooted, Pope Francis said, in his devotion to marriage and family and in his concern for the advancement of future generations.
“In the past week there has been much reflection on the enduring legacy, in a myriad of good works to which the Duke of Edinburgh energetically devoted almost a hundred years of life and for which he used the position entrusted to him.”
He said that the last time he saw Prince Philip was quite unexpectedly on a motorway. The Royal car and its accompanying vehicles had slowed the traffic in both directions. Prince Philip was sitting beside the Queen as he had done on countless occasions across seven decades, accompanying her in carrying out her duties.
He said their support in times of tragedy and crisis helped sustain the fabric of a thriving civil society.
“All this reminds us why a family – the Royal Family – is placed at the centre of our national life. Beyond the aura of a thousand-year-old monarchy, all of us come to know the members of this family through their life-long service and personal engagement with every corner of our land.
“They help to show us how all authority and power in a nation is given and entrusted for service. We recognise the human face of the members of a family who strive every day to live out their duty as an expressly Christian calling.”
Two further Catholic requiem masses were celebrated in Norfolk at St John the Baptist Cathedral in Norwich and at the Church of Our Lady of the Annunciation in King’s Lynn. Prince Phillip was baptised a member of the Greek Orthodox Church, shaped by German Protestantism during his early schooling and initiated into Anglican worship and culture as a naval officer.
The Mass at St John’s Cathedral was celebrated on the 14 of April by Bishop of East Anglia Alan Hopes, who, according to the Diocesan press release, “recalled that Prince Philip had a Christian faith which was deeply held, as well as a love of family and a sense of duty, which were in themselves Christian qualities.” The mass was attended by Lady Dannatt, the Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk, representing the Queen, accompanied by her husband, General Lord Dannatt, former head of the British Army. The Bishop concluded his homily with the words of the Requiem aeternam, “we ask the Lord to have mercy on His servant Philip. Eternal rest grant to him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace.” After the service the cathedral choir sang the national anthem.
Another mass was celebrated by Canon Peter Rollings on April 16 in King’s Lynn, which has a special connection to the Royal Family as Sandringham House and Wood Farm, where the Prince spent much of his final years, are in the parish of King’s Lynn, and many in the area liked to consider the Queen and Prince Phillip as “locals”. The mass was attended by Norfolk’s Vice Lord Lieutenant Peter Wilson, who said he was “deeply moved” by the mass.
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