FIFTY CATHOLIC CHURCHES TO SEE BEFORE YOU DIE

A New Book – by Elena Curti

St Anthony of Padua Rye is featured in this beautiful book.

A few years ago, the future of St Anthony’s was thrown into doubt when the friars, whose numbers in Britain have plummeted, announced that they could no longer supply a parish priest. Their United States brethren came to the rescue, and ever since they have sent priests to Rye.

The rest of Rye and neighbouring Winchelsea have remnants of numerous religious houses that were here in the Middle Ages, when both towns were important trading ports before the sea receded in the fifteenth-sixteenth centuries.  How remarkable that in Rye not only is there this hidden architectural gem St Anthony of Padua but it is also staffed by the founding order, the Greyfriars, founded by St Francis of Assisi in 1209.  The present incumbent friar is Father Matthew Chadwick who is happy to welcome anyone who would like to visit.  Father Matthew is supported by Deacon Rev Simon South of Peasmarsh.  The treasures in St Anthony’s are rich indeed, and not to be missed before you die.