Tag: J.R.R. Tolkien

J.R.R. Tolkien (1892–1973) was an English scholar, philologist, and author who created the modern high fantasy genre. A professor of Oxford University, his deep knowledge of linguistics and mythology shaped his legendary fictional world of Middle-earth, famously detailed in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

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Photograph: Rhys Tranter

This week I had the joy of taking a group of students to the University of Oxford open day. In a few quiet moments, I had an opportunity to pray at the Oxford Oratory on Woodstock Road.

“This church has played a part in the life of many prominent Oxford Catholics. The Jesuit priest and poet Gerald Manley Hopkins served as a curate here. The Newman Society, Oxford University’s oldest student association, was founded here in 1878 (then named ‘the Catholic Club’). Margaret Fletcher founded the Catholics Women’s League here in 1905. J.R.R. Tolkien attended daily Mass here, and the church’s dedication almost certainly inspired Evelyn Waugh when writing Brideshead Revisited.”

— Source: oxfordoratory.org.uk