His Eminence Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster
My memories of Cardinal Hume are vivid and enduring. I am not alone in this. Cardinal George Basil Hume touched the lives of many, many people in ways that are not forgotten. I recall his deep compassion and awareness of the needs of others. This depth of soul was expressed in consistent and effective initiatives for the poor and for those in need both at home and abroad. For all his monastic manner he was a man of action.
But this compassion also expressed itself in his manner as a teacher of the Catholic faith. He always strove to uphold the greater good while never underestimating the importance of our best efforts and strivings, with all their shortcomings.
This compassion was rooted in his keen and constant awareness of his own weaknesses and failings. He knew he depended on the mercy of God. He knew he was, in the phrase of Pope Francis, 'caressed by the Father's mercy', and therefore showed that same mercy to others. The words of St Paul were written deep in his heart: 'The human race has nothing to boast about to God' (1 Cor. 1:29).
I recall the last time I heard him speak in public. It was in St Edward's Church, Golders Green, shortly before he died. He spoke of his own journey towards death, the anxiety he felt and his profound sense of going to his Father to whom he would tell his story, without ambiguity, and with confidence in His loving mercy. He told us that the parable of the Prodigal Son was one of his most favourite Scriptural passages. His words were a witness without parallel.
Cardinal Hume had a rare gift of putting into words, for us all, the struggle involved in reaching out to God. He helped us to understand that only occasionally will we catch a glimpse of God's beauty and goodness. For the most part, we are to live in hopeful trust, knowing that God is near, even if we do not easily or readily sense His presence.
I thank God every day for the gift He gave to us in this good Cardinal.
Extract from Cardinal Basil Hume: A Pilgrim’s Search for God, by Sr Gertrude Feick. Gracewing Publishing 2019George Basil Cardinal Hume OSB OM
Born Newcastle upon Tyne 2 March 1923
Entered Ampleforth College 1934 (D41)
Solemn Profession Ampleforth Abbey 1945
Ordained priest 23 July 1950
Housemaster of St Bede's 1955
Elected Abbot of Ampleforth Abbey 17 April 1963
Appointed Archbishop of Westminster 17 February 1976
Ordained Bishop 25 March 1976
Created Cardinal 24 May 1976
Cardinal Hume Centre founded 17 October 1986
Awarded the Order of Merit 2 June 1999
Died 17 June 1999
Buried St Gregory's Chapel 25 June 1999
George Haliburton Hume was born on 2nd March 1923 in Newcastle upon Tyne, the son of a Protestant heart surgeon and a French Catholic mother, and was educated at Ampleforth College and Benet Hall, Oxford. He entered the novitiate of the Benedictine monastery in 1941, was solemnly professed in 1945, and then ordained a priest in 1950. As a housemaster at his old school, he was a teacher of religious education, history, French and German, continuing to teach when he became Abbot in 1963.
His Holiness Pope Paul VI appointed Hume as 9th Archbishop of Westminster in 1976, and elevated him to the Cardinalate in the same year, with the titular church of San Silvestro in Capite, the same one that his predecessor Cardinal Heenan was given. Still in his early fifties, George Basil Hume was the first monk to be made Archbishop since 1850 when the Roman Catholic hierarchy was restored. After his promotion to Cardinal, his first act was to lead the monks of Ampleforth to Westminster Abbey to sing vespers for the first time in 400 years.
Even after becoming an Archbishop, he considered himself a Benedictine monk first, and his humility, compassion and empathy were always evident. He remained a humble and approachable man, preferring to wear a monk’s habit instead of his Cardinal’s robes.
Inspired by the happy years he spent at Ampleforth College, and a great lover of music, in 1976 he saved the Cathedral Choir from being disbanded; he decided to admit day boys to Westminster Cathedral Choir School, enabling it to survive and flourish.
He emphasised the Church's role in fighting for social justice, and he was instrumental in the release of the Guildford Four. Hume believed that we should give an open-hearted welcome to all people, and in serving others we meet Christ and grow in love of each other. Continuing to dedicate his life to helping others, he was appalled by the visible rise in homeless, and young people and families living in poverty, and worked tirelessly to raise awareness and support.
Cardinal George Basil Hume OSB OMHe encouraged work with young homeless people through the Society of St Vincent de Paul, opened the Cathedral Hall to those sleeping rough, and in 1986 he established the Cardinal Hume Centre, for young people at risk in Westminster,
At the request of Pope John Paul II he continued in his role as Archbishop beyond his 75th birthday, but in April 1999 Hume revealed that he had terminal cancer. On 2 June of that year, Queen Elizabeth rewarded his remarkable achievements with the Order of Merit.
He faced his final illness with impressive dignity, and just over two weeks from his Buckingham Palace visit, Cardinal Basil Hume died on June 17 1999 in St John and St Elizabeth Hospital in London, at the age of 76.
More than 10,000 attended his lying in state, and his funeral service saw almost 4,000 pack the Cathedral and the Piazza, with millions more watching the live broadcast on national television. He was laid to rest in the Chapel of St Gregory and St Augustine in Westminster Cathedral. His Holiness Pope John Paul II, in his message of condolence, praised Hume: “I am confident that the example of the Cardinal's devoted service, as well as his witness of dignity and hope in the face of the mystery of suffering and death, will inspire all who knew him to ever greater fidelity to the Gospel of Salvation.”
The Queen said “He will be remembered not only for his outstanding contribution to Christian life in this country, but also for the warmth, humour, and above all humility which was such an example to us all. He will be much missed.”
The vastly popular Cardinal was known and loved by many, from those in his hometown of Newcastle upon Tyne, the homeless people around Westminster, and to those who still come to pray and seek solace at his grave. He had a mischievous sense of humour and managed to make many laugh out loud; in an extraordinary way it seemed that everyone he met thought of him as a personal friend. And without ever seeking it, he became a spiritual beacon for millions of people across the world.
In this centenary year, his legacy remains - Cardinal Hume’s vision of a more caring society lives on today in all of our hearts, and especially in the students he taught, and charities and schools that he founded or supported in his lifetime.
Canon Patrick Browne
Fr Pat is the parish priest of Holy Apostles Church in Pimlico and was Private Secretary to the Cardinal from 1985 to 1989.
The Cardinal was very funny, and because he had the most marvellous brain he could work up a subject and know the detail, whether it was political, whether it was scientific or whether it was medical; so we used to laugh as he said he's an expert on whatever was the topic that week.
He was always known very affectionately by the young people who knew him - for example some of them would call him ‘father’, some of them would refer to him as the ‘ man’, some would refer to him as ‘the boss’, but these names were always used very affectionately by people, so if you referred to ‘the man’, everybody knew who you were talking about.
When Cardinal Hume died some children wrote prayers and sent them to me. One said: “Make Father Pat cheer up about Cardinal Hume. I’ m sure he’s having fun with Jesus in heaven, because Cardinal Hume was best friends with Jesus. Cardinal Hume was friends with everybody in the world, no matter what they looked like.”
Out of the mouth of babes! This captured the man who was so loved by all sorts of people. His secret? A contemplative heart. As someone commented when he died; “He may have left the monastery, but the monastery never left him”. He persisted with God in daily prayer. He asked the right questions and shared with us whatever answers or partial answers he got, and spoke to us too of the necessity of faithfulness in dark days, if one day we hope to enter and appreciate the light. At the end, when he was dying, he overcame his fear and sat in that darkness till the Light came to claim him.
I have cheered up. I know he is in that place of eternal Light where as he put it many times “We know and are fully known. We love and are completely loved”. But he is still missed.
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To go in search of God requires effort, and a measure of self-discipline and self-denial. The voice of God does not speak dramatically, as in a hurricane or an earthquake, but calls to us gently in the very depths of our being.”
Remaking Europe: Gospel in a Divided Continent Basil Hume, October1994
Monsignor James Curry
Mgr. Jim is the Parish priest of Our Lady of Victories in Kensington. He was Cardinal Hume’s last Private Secretary and was with him when he died.
At the heart of Cardinal Basil Hume’s ethos for life was his Christian faith and his belief that each person was made in the image and likeness of God and therefore had an inbuilt dignity, and that dignity had to be respected and nurtured. He was a very warm human being, a man of high principle and great faith, and he had great faith in human nature. He would talk about his own upbringing and how he would accompany his father on visits to poor districts of Newcastle where they grew up; he was struck by what he had and what they didn't have, and that always stayed with him - how lucky he had been in life, how fortunate, how blessed, and that he felt a sort of an obligation then to help others who weren't as fortunate.
You will find in the front of some Benedictine prayer books the image of the word PAX surrounded by thorns. Cardinal Hume’ s episcopal motto was Pax Inter SpinasPeace among the thorns. In the centenary of his birth, I find myself reflecting on those words more and more.
Among the mess and wounds of life, some selfinflicted, many beyond our immediate control, we need that peace among the thorns. In that peace, that space, we can be restored, encouraged and healed. In the shell of the old, God brings forth something new. For Cardinal Basil Hume, prayer was that place of peace. Most often early in the morning before the celebration of Mass he could be found in the Private Chapel in Archbishop’s house. There he would sit and ponder on the Love that God had for him and has for every person. It was in that encounter with God, where he renewed his trust afresh every day, that he was a beloved child of God.
I am forever grateful for that lesson in trust, faith and perseverance.
Rt Rev. Nicholas Hudson
Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster
For Cardinal Basil Hume, Westminster’s young homeless were his chief preoccupation. I saw this for myself when I was a newly ordained priest; and he offered to show me his Cathedral. To my surprise he began the tour by going straight to the West End - outside, to greet the poor. They all came up to him beaming – because they knew he would accept them, respect them. None of them asked him for money –they knew only too well he would not have any! But they did ask him for what they knew he would give themand that was his blessing.
Many was the evening he would be seen going out at the end of a long day’s work downstairs and out into the streets with a priest or two, to check on the poor who were sleeping around and about the Cathedral. The only exception was perhaps on a Saturday night, when ‘Match of the Day’ inevitably took priority!
What gave him the energy to do this was his conviction that “ every person matters”; “every single person can tell me something about God which nobody else can.”
“We’re not social workers,” he would say, “(but) we will do social work because it is our conviction that we are serving Christ in people who suffer.”
“In our society, we are sometimes encouraged to judge people exclusively by what they achieve, by their jobs, their wealth, their position, even where they live. Therefore, to have no job, to be poor, to be old, to suffer from a chronic illness, or to be without a home: any and all of those can make a person feel useless and rejected, of no value to society, and a burden on others. The book of Genesis teaches that we are each made in the image and likeness of God - therefore, each individual life, at whatever stage, must be accorded complete protection and respect, in which the full potential is realised.”
“Homelessness is still a pressing social problem. In this area of London we are fortunate indeed to have so many people committed to this work. The Cardinal Hume Centre together with the Passage and the Depaul Trust all do a marvellous job, in complementary ways, to assist homeless people.”
Cardinal Basil Hume’s address at an open evening in the Cardinal Hume Centre March 1994
John W. B. Gibbs, KCSG
Over the 13 years that I was financial secretary to the Cardinal I got to know him pretty well, and I saw him deal with many complicated situations and life issues. Everybody remembers Cardinal Hume very affectionately and one of the things he was often keen to do was to kick a football around the Westminster Cathedral Choir School playground. He was a very special man, not just in the Catholic community, but in all walks of life - the people who met him hugely admired him.
Dom Christopher Jamison Abbot President of the English Benedictine Congregation
Cardinal Hume said, “Do you know, I'm fed up with seeing so many people on the streets around the Cathedral where I'm the Archbishop - we've got to do something about it.” And so he did!
Basil Hume was described by His Holiness Pope John Paul II as a pastor of great spiritual and moral character; that was evident to those of us who had the privilege of meeting him, who knew he had a great sense of humour and was of course very keen on sport. He really understood the ordinary things in life but at the same time he could focus on the depths of life very quickly.
FrGerard Devlin Chaplain at Woldingham School
When I was appointed as Chaplain at St Mary’s University, Twickenham, I contacted Cardinal Hume to see if he could come to celebrate our Feast Day Mass in 1996. The students were delighted to meet him and he spoke to them about his love for Newcastle United football club and his vision for the Church where everyone has a role to play in proclaiming the Gospel by our words, actions and example.
In talking to the teacher training students he said that as future teachers they must believe in their own worth and create a new culture of respect. They should work hard at building a community in which the value of the individual is celebrated and affirmed. This is more a matter of action than of words.
The Cardinal went on to say that when we look back to our own school days, the teachers who inspired and helped us were surely nearly always the ones who took us seriously, who believed in us, and gave us a stronger sense of our own self worth and potential.
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My interest in homelessness stems from the Christian obligation to help those in need. Our Lord says in St. Matthew’s Gospel: ‘Insofar as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me’. So I believe that we have a duty to look frankly at the social conditions around us, and as Christians of all denominations to work together to do what we can to address the needs which we find.”
Basil Hume, speech from the opening of the Cardinal Hume Centre’s
for young people - October 1986
hostel
"Whatever our problems or uncertainties, however dark the future may seem, we can always go forward bravely into the unknown. Jesus Christ experienced this darkness himself, but through it he encountered light; he rose from the dead. That is the main reason why we should be joyful and at peace."
Basil Hume OSB - The Mystery of the Cross
Fr Richard ffield OSB (A59) Teacher of physics and theology. Editor of The Ampleforth Journal.
Fr Basil taught me French when I was a boy. Later, when you join the monastery you're clothed as a novice and given the habit. It's a ceremony in front of the whole community and the Abbot gives the talk.
I've always remembered the final words of Basil Hume’s talk which are applicable today as they were in their novitiate. ‘Keep cheerful, don't grumble, and don't get complicated’. God bless him.
Cardinal Hume was my uncle (my mother was one of his older sisters), and at home we called him by his family name, which was George, rather than his monastic name, Basil – so he was always ‘Uncle George’ within the family.
He always saw in other people something special, and that was part of the way in which he related to and valued other people. He would think not only that there is something they can do better than me, but there's probably something I can learn from them as well.
One of the things that was very clear when he became Archbishop was that it really didn't change him, he was still the same Uncle George, and that was very apparent at his annual Christmas party for the family. He was always interested and concerned for people who were less fortunate than he was, concerned for those whose full potential was not being fulfilled.
Philip Westmacott Nephew of George Basil Hume ‘Uncle George’, with his family on pilgrimage in Lourdes“Family is so precious, so important, that we’ ve got to do all we can, either in Government or in industry or business, to make it possible for families to be stable and have a proper environment for the children.”
“The family is the first school of life and love. Each of us is marked indelibly by our own family and childhood experience.”
Cardinal George Basil Hume was a tireless advocate for those living on the margins of society, and was appalled by the poverty that he saw on his doorstep in Westminster.
In 1986 Cardinal Hume, Bishop ‘POD’ Pat O’Donoghue (Cathedral Administrator) and Sister Eileen O’Mahoney, purchased a property (which was originally the Sacred Heart convent), to establish the Cardinal Hume Centre, for young people and families at risk in Westminster,
Over the next two years, he helped the Centre to develop according to local poverty The first major identified need was a place of refuge and support for young families living in bed and breakfast accommodation or bedsits. The family centre was opened at the end of October 1987 staffed by volunteer Sisters, and the Dr Hickey medical surgery also opened at the same time, caring for the rough-sleepers and those with addictions and mental health issues.
Evolving and reacting quickly to demand, in 1989 eleven rooms for homeless young people opened on the top floor of the former convent building. By 1993 that increased with an eight-bed residential hostel (now Basil Hume House), and additional supported accommodation bedrooms were opened in 2004 and 2022 bringing the total to 39 rooms.
An ambitious development was completed in 2018 to create a more welcome, accessible, modern, and flexible space. They include: new facilities for the Centre’ s welcome and assessment staff, housing, welfare rights and immigration teams; better training facilities, and an attractive and welcoming new family and young people’ s area – all to benefit people in need in the local community.
In this centenary year, Cardinal George Basil Hume’s legacy remains - his vision of a more caring society lives on today in all of our hearts, and especially in the students he taught, and charities and schools that he founded or supported in his lifetime.
For more information about his life and legacy, please visit www.CardinalHumeCentre.org.uk/centenary
“Each individual life, must be accorded full protection and respect. Each person matters. No human life is ever redundant.
Sadly for many, it seems there is no sense of hope; yet behind each face is a personal story. These people are precious in the eyes of God and thus must be precious in ours.”
Extract from Cardinal Basil Hume’ s address at an open evening in the Cardinal Hume Centre 25th March 1994
We would like to thank all the authors, contributors, publishers, photographers and Westminster Cathedral Archives, for allowing us to use their materials for this booklet.
Photograph by Lord Snowdon
