Pilgrim Preachers 1921

October 1921

Dean Inge's Authority "Dean Inge asserted his authority in St. Paul's Churchyard this morning. The Pilgrim Preachers began to make a joyful noise there, and the Dean politely but uncompromisingly told them to stop it. This was a new experience for the Pilgrim Preachers. They have wandered from Liverpool through Wales and the southern counties preaching and singing without let or hindrance wherever they could gather a few people to join with them, and they planned an open-air service outside St. Paul's to commemorate the completion of their pilgrimage.

On the flat forecourt where people were feeding the pigeons they unrolled their banners and began to sing. This forecourt within the granite blocks between which chains are sometimes stretched is part of St. Paul's Churchyard and subject to ecclesiastical authority. You may feed pigeons there, but if you do anything else without the permission of the Dean and Chapter you are a trespasser on an ecclesiastical preserve.

The Pilgrim Preachers had not asked for a permit for their service today, and so the Dean saw fit to order them off."

How The Pilgrims Scored "The Pilgrim Preachers had sung "Crown Him Lord of All" and the Doxology before they were interfered with. Then a cassocked verger ran down the Cathedral steps and spoke to the leader. Men standing around scented the difficulty. "Carry on," they shouted, "this is a free country." And "Down with ecclesiastical interference," they shouted. The Pilgrim leader quietly raised his hand. "Peace, brother," he said, "we break no laws and we shall obey orders, but it is strange that we who have preached the gospel Paul preached should be silenced in front of the Cathedral bearing his name."

A Pilgrim with a tremendous voice thereupon recited the passage, "God so loved the world," &c, and his fellow-Pilgrims joined him in loud chorus. Then one of them with uplifted Bible struck up the song, "The Old Book", and a little forest of Bibles rose in the air as the Pilgrims sang.

All this time the police (who are charged to keep order up to the doors of the Cathedral) merely looked on. There was no reason why they should have done otherwise... the crowd was not large, the behaviour as orderly as that of a devotional meeting. On the fringe of the crowd was Dean Inge. He spoke to a policeman, and the policeman, receiving, I was told, a direct instruction, simply did his duty.

There was no attempt at a disputation. The Pilgrim Preachers were as nice about it as if the Dean had sent them a message of brotherly love."

Sources

• The Guardian, London, England: Oct. 21, 1921
  • via Newspapers.com