PREFACE The publication of the Liber Ruber will be welcomed by the Catholic body with the greatest pleasure. The original has long lain hidden in the archives of the Venerable English College in Rome, a treasure to be seen and venerated only by those fortunate enough to visit Rome and to spend some time within the walls of a house which must be beloved of those who know its glorious
history. well remember, early in the period when I had the honour to be the Rector of the College , how I looked forward to the day when the old College diary could be published by the Catholic Record Society . The plan took shape, and to- day we see the result of some years of labour. For it is about five years, I think, since to London thephotostat copy of our precious book. Since I carried then , devoted and difficult work has finally led up to the happy conclusion. As I look back on the years which was privileged to spend in the Venerabile both as a student and Rector, some sixteen years in all , I feel a great sense of gratitude to God for all that the College has been able to accomplish for Holy Church, and for the inspiration which those happy years of residence within its walls gave to me. Sherwin, Walpole , Morse, Hart , Buxton, Lewis and all the rest of the gallant company seemed to me to live again in those young men who were my fellow-students, or who, in the days when was Rector , were given to me to be led to the same sacred Ipriesthood and to the same altar and sacrifice. Together we kept the anniversaries of those brave servants of Christ who were men of our own house . We placed flowers and lights before the picture of the Blessed Trinity which the martyrs themselves had venerated . We asked the Holy Father to grant us a special feast of our College martyrs on December 1st , the day of Ralph Sherwin's passion. Thespecial Mass and Office which we submitted were approved , and the feast of the Venerabile Martyrs, celebrated as a Festa nel coro e nel refettorio, brought us a peculiar domestic joy beyond all telling . Then the frequent invocationof our Blessed fellow-students, for so we may call them , kept them constantly before our minds . The Liber Ruber is a monument of the heroism of the sons whom Alma Mater brought forth to Holy Church, and its publication will bring it from the hidden place of the College archives to the light of day so that the treasure contained therein may be seen by those to whom the book itself must remain inaccessible. The very first among the martyrs of the College reflected the spirit of the students of those days, when, as we read in the Liber Ruber , in answer to his Rector's question if he were prepared to return to England to work in the vineyard of the Lord, he made
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