We were delighted to see that Fr Ian Ker's new biography of Chesterton mentions the fact that the Chesterton Library is to be housed here, once we have the first phase of the New Building up. Although G.K.C. himself did not have a personal connection with the Oxford Oratory, he knew many people who did - some of whom still come to Mass here every Sunday. But he is part of the great Catholic Revival in literature and spirituality - that flowering of lay Catholic writers that was so prominent in the first half of the last century. Hilary Belloc was of course intimately connected with the Oratory, being at school under J.H.N. himself in Birmingham, and an undergraduate in Oxford. In connection with the Chesterton books we are also collecting books by and on Belloc, Maurice Baring, Christopher Dawson and the others, not forgetting our own J.R.R.Tolkien, another Oratory boy who came to Mass here regularly.
The detailed drawings for the new Library have just arrived - rather technical, so here's the artist's impression of what it will look like.
