A couple of days ago now – I got ‘stopped in my tracks’ by a small portrait of a kindly, gentleman peering out at me from the bottom corner of a page – in a daily newspaper I was ‘reading’; his name is John Henry Newman, Cardinal John Henry Newman to be precise, soon to be canonised. And when I say noticed – I literally mean he lit up the page, the whole newspaper in fact; no small miracle amid the doom and gloom – and trivia – I’d previously skipped on my way to reading my stars! 

The portrait featured is by Emmeline Deane – an oil on canvas that’s in the National Portrait Gallery – one of thirty-seven portraits of Cardinal Newman in the NPG; Emmeline’s is my favourite though. I just love that long slender hand; the hand that penned ‘Lead, Kindly Light’ – one of the most inspirational poems Ever written.

I’m not a member of the Catholic Church (if you’re wondering) – but my grandmother was——is; faith seemingly goes on. To that effect, I’m certain that ‘Granny Day’ taps me on the shoulder’ every once in a while…

One such ‘tap on my shoulder’ was when I walked away – from an old ‘Sacred Heart’ print I’d picked up and put back down in a charity shop; the glass was so dirty I could hardly see through it!

Following my grandmother’s intervention, I couldn’t walkaway. I went back into the shop and brought the picture home to re-frame; it cost just five pounds.

There’s a half-broken statuette too. It hasn’t moved since it was unpacked from its box – and unceremoniously dumped on the living room table. I just love him where he rests amidst my general clutter… 

The statuette on my table reminds me of a one-off overnight stay in my grandmother’s small flat in Brighton – when I was a girl. I remember her ‘Sacred Heart’ statuette standing in the middle of her dressing table surrounded by ‘Light’. In the daylight hours it was just a triptych mirror that surrounded the figure – but by night the whole dressing table seemed to magically light up. It’s an image that’s still afire in my head even though ‘Granny Day’ died in 1978.

Granny Day loved her ‘Sacred Heart’ statuette – it had been given to her by the nuns at the convent school she attended. I don’t know where mine came from – other than it arrived here from France; I mean I don’t know its provenance. But it must have been loved – as much as my Grandmother’s statuette – as it has been broken clean in half – then stuck back together again. He’s got a broken nose too and multiple chips – just like Life itself; I bought him like that.  

A more recent acquisition is an old Victorian print (above) called ‘Lead, Kindly Light’ – inspired by the words of the great man himself, John Henry Newman. From his poem ‘The Pillar of the Cloud’ – better known as the beautiful hymn – ‘Lead, Kindly Light’.

Whilst touring Italy as a young priest – Newman fell gravely ill and almost died.  Following weeks of convalescence and soul-searching – he recovered well-enough to travel home to Oxford, England – with a renewed determination to continue God’s work; his illness and seemingly miraculous recovery were confirmation of the path that lay ahead…

John Henry Newman was a leading member of The Oxford Movement – along with John Keble. ‘Keble College’ is named after John Keble and the Chapel is where the ultimate ‘Light’ painting can be found – how vibrational is that! ‘Vibrational’ is a ‘Yaffle’ term meaning interconnectedness. 

The words of ‘Lead, Kindly Light’ came to John Henry Newman on the voyage home – during an enforced becalment in the ‘Straits of Bonifacio’.

It’s often the way – that when there’s no alternative than to be still a while – that profundities surface.

Newman’s poem has universal, multi-faith appeal… 

Mahatma Gandhi was an advocate of the ‘Lead, Kindly Light – one step enough for me’ approach to life – and look where the ‘Light’ led him; a Nation! He said of Newman’s poem “In my daily prayers I earnestly pray to God to lead me from untruth to truth. Isn’t the same idea conveyed in ‘Lead kindly Light’?”

I agree. Believe in whatever it is you believe in and don’t falter; to me – the woman in green – is ‘Emily’.   

Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,
Lead thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home,
Lead thou me on!
Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene, one step enough for me.

I was not ever thus, nor prayed that thou
Shouldst lead me on:
I loved to choose and see my path, but now
Lead thou me on!
I loved the garish days, and, spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will: remember not past years.

So long thy power hath blessed me, sure it still
Will lead me on;
O’er moor and fen, o’er crag and torrent, till
The night is gone;
And with the morn those angel faces smile
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile.

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To the memory of Violet Marie Graveley – 

‘Granny Day’

1907 – 1978

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Another light-filled kinda day – Tuesday 27th November 2018.

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https://www.gibbons-art.co.uk/ 

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