Pope pius vi biography of michael ramsey
COMMON DECLARATION OF HIS HOLINESS PAUL VI
AND HIS GRACE MICHAEL RAMSEY,
ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY
Monastery of St Paul
Thursday, 24 March 1966
In this city of Rome, from which St. Augustine was sent by St. Gregory to England and there founded the cathedral see of Canterbury, towards which the eyes of all Anglicans now turn as the centre of their Christian Communion, His Holiness Pope Paul VI and His Grace Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury, representing the Anglican Communion, have met to exchange fraternal greetings.
At the conclusion of their meeting they give thanks to Almighty God who by the action of the Holy Spirit has in these latter years created a new atmosphere of Christian fellowship between the Roman Catholic Church and the Churches of the Anglican Communion.
This encounter of the 23rd March 1966 marks a new stage in the development of fraternal relations, based upon Christian charity, and of sincere efforts to remove the causes of conflict and to re-establish unity.
In willing obedience to the command of Christ who bade his disciples love one another, they declare that, with His help, they wish to leave in the hands of the God of mercy all that in the past has been opposed to this precept of charity, and that they make their own the mind of the Apostle which he expressed in these words: «Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus» (Phil. 3, 13-14).
They affirm their desire that all those Christians who belong to these two Communions may be animated by these same sentiments of respect, esteem and fraternal love, and in order to help these develop to the full, they intend to inaugurate between the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion a serious dialogue which, founded on the Gospels and on the ancient common traditions, may lead to that unity in truth, for which Christ
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He was a huge man – intellectually as much as physically – and it is hard to forget the sight of him lumbering towards you with that twinkle in his eyes shining out from his huge bushy white eye-brows.
I first met Michael Ramsey in 1978 when I left Hull to read Theology in Durham and he was the person who had the most profound influence on my life and my vocation. He lived near my college in Durham and he regularly celebrated the Tuesday morning mass. Serving the 100th Archbishop of Canterbury was an ordeal in itself; not so much that he was a great man but because he was also somewhat clumsy and, shall we say, not always graceful on his feet. But perhaps this was one of those mischievous characteristics – of being a parody of himself.
I think it is probably safe to say that his relationships with students enriched his retirement years to a high degree. Many of us benefited from his weekly tutorials in his study; we sat, literally, at his feet, and he wanted to explore as much as to teach. He was a man that was always learning and had a phenomenal thirst for knowledge. I remember when he came to visit me once at St Stephen’s House; I was looking for him to take him somewhere and found him in the library. He didn’t see me as I came in. He was stacking an enormous pile of books on a table – into a very precarious tower – muttering to himself, “So much to read…so much to learn…so much to read…so much to learn…”
His ministry as a priest and as a bishop was bound up in the lives of real people. Finding the glory of God in people and in ordinary things was something he searched for and believed in:
“People seek the glory of personal distinction through the praise and esteem of others: Jesus reveals the glory of self-giving love, which is the glory of the Father and of the Son…The paradox that the Passion and the glory are one will be learnt only in the practical obedience of discipl Archbishop of Canterbury (1904–88) For other people named Michael Ramsey, see Michael Ramsey (disambiguation). Arthur Michael Ramsey, Baron Ramsey of Canterbury, PC (14 November 1904 – 23 April 1988) was a British Church of England bishop and life peer. He served as the 100th Archbishop of Canterbury. He was appointed on 31 May 1961 and held the office until 1974, having previously been appointed Bishop of Durham in 1952 and the Archbishop of York in 1956. He was known as a theologian, educator, and advocate of Christian unity. Ramsey was born in Cambridge, England in 1904. His parents were Arthur Stanley Ramsey (1867–1954) and Mary Agnes Ramsey née Wilson (1875–1927); his father was a Congregationalist and mathematician and his mother was a socialist and suffragist. He was educated at Sandroyd School, Wiltshire, King's College School, Cambridge,Repton School (where the headmaster was a future Archbishop of Canterbury, Geoffrey Francis Fisher) and Magdalene College, Cambridge, where his father was president of the college. At university he was president of the Cambridge Union Society and his support for the Liberal Party won him praise from H. H. Asquith. Ramsey's elder brother, Frank P. Ramsey (1903–1930), was a mathematician and philosopher (of atheist convictions). He was something of a prodigy who, when only 19, translated Wittgenstein's Tractatus into English. During his time in Cambridge, Ramsey came under the influence of the Anglo-Catholic dean of Corpus Christi College, Edwyn Clement Hoskyns. On the advice of Eric Milner-White he trained at Cuddesdon, where he became friends with Austin Farrer and was introduced to Orthodox Christian ideas by Derwas Chitty. He graduated in 1927 with a First-class degree in Theology. Ramsey was ordained in 1928 and became a curate in Liverpool, where he wa When Paul VI famously gave his ring to the then-Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey on March 24, 1966, there were no TV cameras to record the event, no photographers standing by. That’s a pity, because the exchange marked one of the most moving chapters in the modern ecumenical drama. Anglican Fr. John Andrew, however, was one of two witnesses to the exchange, and on Oct. 4 he told NCR the full story. The night before, March 23, Paul VI had dispatched a member of the papal household to the Venerable English College on Via di Monserrato to find Andrew, who was then Ramsey’s private secretary. The pope wanted to give the ring he had worn as cardinal archbishop of Milan to Ramsey, the messenger said. He wanted to know if the archbishop should be forewarned, or should it be a surprise? Andrew consulted another aide, and both agreed: Let it be a surprise. The next morning, Pope Paul and Archbishop Ramsey led an ecumenical liturgy in Rome’s Basilica of St. Paul’s-outside-the Walls. In telling symbolism, they entered side by side and sat on the same level, close to each other. They also signed a “Common Declaration,” affirming their desire that “all those Christians who belong to these two communions may be animated by these same sentiments of respect, esteem and fraternal love.” After the ceremony was over, Paul VI pulled Ramsey aside to show him some frescoes on an interior wall of the basilica. As Ramsey gazed up, Paul asked him, in his rather accented English, to remove his ring. Ramsey didn’t understand, so he turned to Andrew, wh Michael Ramsey
Early life
Ordained ministry
Pope Paul's gift marked moving moment of ecumenical dramaPope John Paul II kisses the hand of Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury following their meeting at the Vatican Oct. 4. Williams wore the ring given to a predecessor, Archbishop Michael Ramsey, by Pope Paul VI.
-- CNS/Catholic Press Photo