In memoriam R.C. LLewelyn, "Lew"

Source The Telegraph, UK
(https://webmail.planet.nl/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/12/db1201.xml )


The Reverend Robert Llewelyn, who died on February 6 aged 98, was a godly Church of England priest who spent the first 30 years of hisministry as a schoolmaster, then became a notable teacher of prayer.


As chaplain of the cell of Dame Julian of Norwich he introduced a verylarge number of people to the life and writings of this English woman mystic who lived in a small cell attached to a Norwich church at theturn of the 14th and 15th centuries. His compilation of 200 of her sayings sold more than 100,000 copies and was the first in a series ofsmall devotional books that are still widely read.


Robert Charles Llewelyn was born at Exmouth, Devon, on July 6 1909.His great-grandmother, who lived on the Isle of Wight, was a friend of Queen Victoria.

Brought up in a devout Church of England home, he went first toPangbourne College, with a view to entering the Navy, but this did notsuit him, and he completed his schooling as head boy at King Edward VISchool, Southampton.

He read Mathematics at Pembroke College, Cambridge, then joined theteaching staff of Westminster School, where Peter Ustinov and TonyBenn were among his pupils.

After four years he was ordained by Bishop Winnington Ingram in StPaul's Cathedral and, while continuing to teach maths, spent a gooddeal of his off-duty time praying and meditating in the St Faith'sChapel of Westminster Abbey. He was during this time under theinfluence of the Cowley Fathers, whose London house was nearby.

In August 1939 Llewelyn was given a year's leave to spend with theCawnpore Brotherhood - a missionary community in India - and he was onthe last passenger ship for several years to sail through the SuezCanal.

When his year at Cawnpore ended he found it impossible to get back toEngland because of the war conditions and he was roped in to beheadmaster of the Hallet War School.This was established in a former Anglo-Indian school, then derelict,in the foothills of the Himalayas, and it was Llewelyn's task tocreate an emergency school for the children of British officials andothers who could no longer be sent to public schools in England.A temporary teaching staff was recruited from various parts of the sub-continent, and the school - which continued until the end of the war -was a great success, achieving examination results comparable to thoseof long-established English schools.

He returned to Westminster School as chaplain in 1945, but a yearlater was invited to go to the Bahamas to start a diocesan school for11 to 17-year-olds at Nassau. He remained there until 1951, by whichtime St John's College was well established, with a large, mainlyblack, roll of pupils.

Llewelyn was now called back to India to become headmaster of Sherwood College - the Lucknow diocesan boys' school which had fallen on hardtimes as a consequence of independence and was in danger of closure.Under his leadership its fortunes were reversed, and during his 15 years there the roll reached 500, many of the pupils coming from EastAfrica. At one point there were more than 70 Patels on the register,which often led to confusion.

He returned to England in 1966 but was immediately asked to go back tobecome chaplain to the Wantage Sisters - an outpost of an Englishcommunity of nuns - at Poona. He also became priest-in-charge of StMary's church and eventually archdeacon, though he preferred hisministry in the convent and the prayerful discipline of the monasticlife.

Back in England again in 1972, he accepted an invitation to become warden of Bede House at Staplehurst, Kent. This was a convent of the enclosed religious order of the Sisters of the Love of God, and besides celebrating Mass and offering a priestly ministry to the nuns, Llewelyn welcomed visitors and went to other parts of the country to conduct retreats.


In 1976, when on the eve of retirement, he was asked to go to Norwichsimply to be a presence in the cell of Dame Julian. The actual cell occupied by the celebrated anchoress had long disappeared - probably destroyed during the Reformation - and the church to which it had been attached was itself damaged by a wartime bomb.The rebuilding project included a tiny chapel built on what was believed to have been the site of Julian's cell.

This was not much used until Llewelyn arrived, but he used his many contacts to make its existence more widely known. Aided by a renewed interest in Julian and an increasing concern forthe place of women in the Church, the cell became, and remains, afocus of devotion and inspiration for a large number of Christiansfrom all parts of the world. His contribution was to offer daily prayer, give talks on Julian and, when required, provide spiritual counsel to pilgrims.

Llewelyn's own spirituality was in some ways close to that of a priestof Julian's own time. He located the supernatural at every turn, and took very seriously reports of visions and voices, healings and coincidences.

On one occasion, when wondering whether or not he should retire fromthe cell, he asked God to remove from the back of his neck a small but long-neglected lump. "Lord, if you make the lump go down I shall take it as a sign that I should continue my work."Within a few days it had disappeared, and he remained at the cell for several more years, until he was 81.

The sources of his spirituality were, in fact, wide. Without everceasing to be formed by the Anglican tradition, he made several visitsto Medjugorje, in Bosnia, where six teenagers claimed to be receiving visits from the Virgin Mary.

Lourdes was less attractive to him, but he none thel ess made a number of visits - as he did, by way of contrast, to Holy Trinity Church,Brompton, where he had no difficulty in recognising the spiritual factor if members of the congregation fell to the floor or spoke intongues.

His insights into prayer were deepened by attending a ZenBuddhist retreat. All of which contributed to the making of a priest of undoubtedholiness and warm humanity, to whom many became greatly in debted, and who in 1994 was awarded the Templeton Prize for his contribution to the advancement of religion in the field of spirituality. He was unmarried.
___________________________________________________________________

I agree with the following definition of a real Christian:
“A Christian is someone who has decided to entrust his or her life to Jesus Christ. A Christian trusts Christ for forgiveness of sin, a right standing before God, and guidance in life.”

“Lew”, one of the few real Christians I had the privilege of meeting is dead. 17 months before completing a century in years.

One of the reasons why I’ll never forget this man, is that he is the only man that caned me without retribution! But also the man who introduced boys to classical music, by playing records on his almost antique record player. Encouraged one to read poetry, talk about architecture and religion, naturally.

One of the things I learned at Sherwood, was that you only broke the law, if you were prepared to accept the consequences. It has come in handy in the rest of my life.

R.C. Llewelyn, had reason to cane me more often than the average pupil. I was not average when it came to making mischief. I got 2 and 4 on many occasions for all sorts of reasons; mostly ‘out of bounds’, ‘turning up late’, ‘too many black points’, etc. etc.

My father is the only reason “Lew” had to give me 6, three times. On Sherwood’s application form, he had entered “Christian” as my denomination. My father was a Christian, I’ll gladly admit that, but I resented having to be one when I was at Sherwood and never qualified as one in a later stage of my life. Although I fully endorse the humanitarian aspects of Christianity, I have never been able to, however hard I tried, God knows;-) to qualify as in the definition I quoted earlier.

At that time it was compulsory for those whose parents had put “Christian” on the form, to attend Sunday and Easter services; while boys whose parents had filled in another religion were free to spend their time reading, chatting to each other or washing their hair. A sight I’ll never forget is a row of Sikhs with their hair and beards blowing in the wind on a balcony; before coming to Sherwood I had never seen or noticed a similar sight.

By now you’ll have guessed that I received the canings for not attending church. Somehow, he noticed every time. My answer that I did not attend because I did not feel like, seemed to infuriate him and when 4 cuts did not achieve the desired result he took other measures and gave me 6. After the third time he had administered a 6, he said “Next time you don’t attend a service I’ll expel you.” Needless to say, I had no other option but to attend. But I never donated an anna. The only times when attending church was not a punishment, was when the devout girls of All Saints were present.

Things have changed, nowadays, Sherwood has girls boarding. Thank God not when I was there, “Lew” should certainly have had good reason to expel me.

I joined Sherwood somewhere in June; being the only new boy, had its advantages and disadvantages. One had to learn fast to acclimatise as soon as possible. I’ll never forget my first caning. Seeing his collection of canes, different thicknesses, different lengths. I never asked if it was true, but I was told by boys who had experienced it, that very junior boys were caned with a cloth brush, while “Lew”, clamped a Bible in the armpit if the arm he used to hold the brush in and ending the punishment if the Bible moved.

I had been told, not to show any pain or rub any part of the caned area in public. The first time I got two, I kind of overdid it, I was smiling broadly when coming upright from the well known position. I heard him say “You think it is funny, bend over” and received another 2;-)

I look back with pleasure at the relatively short time I spent in Sherwood. It is a long time ago; most of the food was not very exciting, periodically switching from the English menu to the non vegetarian Indian one. Bribing the bearers for extras and rattling off grace, with your eyes open.

The last 6 days, ‘khanda-ing’ sneaks and other unfortunate ones for breaking the code.

Diving, to get town leave. Johnny: “Schäffer, don’t bother to swim if ever your vessel sinks, wait till it arrives at the bottom and start walking to the nearest shore!”, or words to the effect.

Thappa: “Place your foot on the ball like this and he’ll hurt his ankle”. Try that today and you’ll be sent off immediately.

I do enjoy visiting http://www.sherwoodcollege.com/ and my subscription to the Old Sherwoodian’s Digest; specially to see that some of us, have done very well.


http://www.hamsa-yoga.org/index.php. Shitole, I remember him well. Even as a young lad, he was into yoga. He once told me to sit in a certain position, drain my head of thoughts, close my eyes for a couple of minutes and tell him which colours I saw. Only black;-)

And so many other, then fine young men....