John Bradburne
Encyclopedia
John Randal Bradburne MC
(1921, Skirwith
, Cumbria
- 5 September 1979, near Mutoko
, Rhodesia
– now Zimbabwe
) was a lay member of the Order of St Francis, a poet
, warden of the Mutemwa leper colony at Mutoko
. He was killed by guerrillas and is a candidate for canonization
.
and a distant relation of Lord Soames
.
, an independent school
in Norfolk
, from 1934 to 1939. When war broke out, he went straight into the army instead of going on to a university, as he had planned.
and found himself in Malaya, facing the Japanese invasion of Malaya
. After the fall of Singapore
, Bradburne spent a month in the jungle. With another Gurkha officer he tried to sail a sampan to Sumatra
, but was shipwrecked. A second attempt succeeded, and he was rescued by a Royal Navy
destroyer and returned to Dehra Dun. He then saw active service in Burma, where he was awarded the Military Cross
for gallantry.
, he stayed at Buckfast Abbey
in England
and became a Roman Catholic. Soon after, he joined the Secular Order of St Francis
, remaining a layman.
A poet, he left behind him six thousand pages of verse.
In Israel
, he joined the small Order of Our Lady of Mount Sion, founded for the conversion of the Jews, and went as a Novice to Louvain
, Belgium
, for a year. After that, he walked to Rome
and lived for a year in the organ loft of the small Church in a mountain village, playing the organ. He then tried to live as a hermit on Dartmoor
, then went to the Benedictine Prinknash Abbey
, before joining the choir of Westminster Cathedral
as a Sacristan. Cardinal Godfrey asked him to be the caretaker of his country house, Hare Street House, in Cambridgeshire
.
Bradburne travelled to Rhodesia
as a missionary helper, and there Jesuit missionaries introduced him to the Mutemwa Leprosy Settlement near Mutoko
. He arrived in 1969, went on to become its warden, and remained until his death.
By July 1979, war had come near, and Bradburne's friends were urging him to leave Mutemwa, now in the conflict zone. He insisted he should stay with the lepers. On 7 September 1979, mujibhas abducted him and took him to a guerrilla commander in the Inyanga
Mountains, accusing him of being an informer for the Rhodesian security forces, but the commander knew about his work and ordered his release. He set off for Mutemwa at night, but a guerrilla security officer saw him as a security risk and proposed he should go to Mozambique. He refused, saying the lepers needed him, and on 8 September 1979 he was shot dead by the road.
Feature articles on John Bradburne and Mutemwa appeared in England's Sunday Telegraph
on 23 April 1989 and on 28 August 1994, the second written by the newspaper's editor, Charles Moore
, who had visited Mutemwa.
In July 2001, the Franciscan priest Father Paschal Slevin presented a petition to Archbishop Patrick Fani Chakaipa, Archbishop of Harare
for an inquiry into Bradburne's canonisation. Father Slevin commented: "I have no doubt that John died a martyr in his determination to serve his friends, the lepers. If his martyrdom is accepted, his cause for sainthood could go quite quickly".
Up to 25,000 attend a service in his memory at Mutemwa each year and a mass commemorating the 30th anniversary of his death was held in Westminster Abbey
.
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
(1921, Skirwith
Skirwith
Skirwith is a village in the English county of Cumbria.Skirwith is seven miles from Penrith in a generally north-easterly direction, on a minor road about a mile from Blencarn. Just to the south are remains of a priory, now incorporated in farm buildings....
, Cumbria
Cumbria
Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...
- 5 September 1979, near Mutoko
Mutoko
Mutoko is a small town in Mashonaland East province, Zimbabwe. It was established as an administrative station in 1911. It lies 143 km from Harare. It is named after the local Chief Mutoko....
, Rhodesia
Rhodesia
Rhodesia , officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state located in southern Africa that existed between 1965 and 1979 following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965...
– now Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
) was a lay member of the Order of St Francis, a poet
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
, warden of the Mutemwa leper colony at Mutoko
Mutoko
Mutoko is a small town in Mashonaland East province, Zimbabwe. It was established as an administrative station in 1911. It lies 143 km from Harare. It is named after the local Chief Mutoko....
. He was killed by guerrillas and is a candidate for canonization
Canonization
Canonization is the act by which a Christian church declares a deceased person to be a saint, upon which declaration the person is included in the canon, or list, of recognized saints. Originally, individuals were recognized as saints without any formal process...
.
Background
Bradburne's father was an Anglican clergyman and he had two brothers and two sisters. He was a cousin of the playwright Sir Terence RattiganTerence Rattigan
Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan CBE was one of England's most popular 20th-century dramatists. His plays are generally set in an upper-middle-class background...
and a distant relation of Lord Soames
Christopher Soames, Baron Soames
Arthur Christopher John Soames, Baron Soames, GCMG, GCVO, CH, CBE, PC was a British politician belonging to the Conservative Party and the son-in-law of Winston Churchill. A European Commissioner and the last Governor of Southern Rhodesia, he had previously been the longtime Member of Parliament...
.
Education
Bradburne was educated at Gresham'sGresham's School
Gresham’s School is an independent coeducational boarding school in Holt in North Norfolk, England, a member of the HMC.The school was founded in 1555 by Sir John Gresham as a free grammar school for forty boys, following King Henry VIII's dissolution of the Augustinian priory at Beeston Regis...
, an independent school
Independent school (UK)
An independent school is a school that is not financed through the taxation system by local or national government and is instead funded by private sources, predominantly in the form of tuition charges, gifts and long-term charitable endowments, and so is not subject to the conditions imposed by...
in Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
, from 1934 to 1939. When war broke out, he went straight into the army instead of going on to a university, as he had planned.
War service
Joining the army in 193regiment of the Indian ArmyIndian Army
The Indian Army is the land based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. With about 1,100,000 soldiers in active service and about 1,150,000 reserve troops, the Indian Army is the world's largest standing volunteer army...
and found himself in Malaya, facing the Japanese invasion of Malaya
British Malaya
British Malaya loosely described a set of states on the Malay Peninsula and the Island of Singapore that were brought under British control between the 18th and the 20th centuries...
. After the fall of Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, Bradburne spent a month in the jungle. With another Gurkha officer he tried to sail a sampan to Sumatra
Sumatra
Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...
, but was shipwrecked. A second attempt succeeded, and he was rescued by a Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
destroyer and returned to Dehra Dun. He then saw active service in Burma, where he was awarded the Military Cross
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
for gallantry.
Career
After World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he stayed at Buckfast Abbey
Buckfast Abbey
Buckfast Abbey forms part of an active Benedictine monastery at Buckfast, near Buckfastleigh, Devon, England. Dedicated to Saint Mary, it was founded in 1018 and run by the Cistercian order from 1147 until it was destroyed under the Dissolution of the Monasteries...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and became a Roman Catholic. Soon after, he joined the Secular Order of St Francis
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
, remaining a layman.
A poet, he left behind him six thousand pages of verse.
In Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, he joined the small Order of Our Lady of Mount Sion, founded for the conversion of the Jews, and went as a Novice to Louvain
Leuven
Leuven is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region, Belgium...
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, for a year. After that, he walked to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
and lived for a year in the organ loft of the small Church in a mountain village, playing the organ. He then tried to live as a hermit on Dartmoor
Dartmoor
Dartmoor is an area of moorland in south Devon, England. Protected by National Park status, it covers .The granite upland dates from the Carboniferous period of geological history. The moorland is capped with many exposed granite hilltops known as tors, providing habitats for Dartmoor wildlife. The...
, then went to the Benedictine Prinknash Abbey
Prinknash Abbey
Prinknash Abbey is a Roman Catholic Benedictine monastery situated in the Vale of Gloucester in the Diocese of Clifton, near the village of Cranham....
, before joining the choir of Westminster Cathedral
Westminster Cathedral
Westminster Cathedral in London is the mother church of the Catholic community in England and Wales and the Metropolitan Church and Cathedral of the Archbishop of Westminster...
as a Sacristan. Cardinal Godfrey asked him to be the caretaker of his country house, Hare Street House, in Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...
.
Bradburne travelled to Rhodesia
Rhodesia
Rhodesia , officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state located in southern Africa that existed between 1965 and 1979 following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965...
as a missionary helper, and there Jesuit missionaries introduced him to the Mutemwa Leprosy Settlement near Mutoko
Mutoko
Mutoko is a small town in Mashonaland East province, Zimbabwe. It was established as an administrative station in 1911. It lies 143 km from Harare. It is named after the local Chief Mutoko....
. He arrived in 1969, went on to become its warden, and remained until his death.
By July 1979, war had come near, and Bradburne's friends were urging him to leave Mutemwa, now in the conflict zone. He insisted he should stay with the lepers. On 7 September 1979, mujibhas abducted him and took him to a guerrilla commander in the Inyanga
Inyanga
Inyanga is a Zulu word for a traditional herbal healer.An inyanga is a traditional South African herbalist, herb doctor, or medicine man or woman. The Southern African word inyanga is related to the Central African nganga, meaning a priest and medicine man...
Mountains, accusing him of being an informer for the Rhodesian security forces, but the commander knew about his work and ordered his release. He set off for Mutemwa at night, but a guerrilla security officer saw him as a security risk and proposed he should go to Mozambique. He refused, saying the lepers needed him, and on 8 September 1979 he was shot dead by the road.
Feature articles on John Bradburne and Mutemwa appeared in England's Sunday Telegraph
Sunday Telegraph
The Sunday Telegraph is a British broadsheet newspaper, founded in February 1961. It is the sister paper of The Daily Telegraph, but is run separately with a different editorial staff, although there is some cross-usage of stories...
on 23 April 1989 and on 28 August 1994, the second written by the newspaper's editor, Charles Moore
Charles Moore (journalist)
Charles Hilary Moore is a British journalist and former editor of The Daily Telegraph.-Early life:He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge where he was awarded a BA in History and was a friend of Oliver Letwin.-Career:A former editor of The Spectator , the Sunday Telegraph and The...
, who had visited Mutemwa.
In July 2001, the Franciscan priest Father Paschal Slevin presented a petition to Archbishop Patrick Fani Chakaipa, Archbishop of Harare
Archbishop of Harare
The Archbishop of Harare heads the Roman Catholic Metropolitan See for Zimbabwe.In 2004, the number of Roman Catholics in the archdiocese was estimated as 483,293 , and they were served by 124 priests....
for an inquiry into Bradburne's canonisation. Father Slevin commented: "I have no doubt that John died a martyr in his determination to serve his friends, the lepers. If his martyrdom is accepted, his cause for sainthood could go quite quickly".
Up to 25,000 attend a service in his memory at Mutemwa each year and a mass commemorating the 30th anniversary of his death was held in Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
.
Further reading
- Strange Vagabond of God: a biography of John Bradburne by Father John Dove (revised edition, 1997)
- John Bradburne of Mutemwa, 1921-1979 (The John Bradburne Memorial Society)
- Songs of the Vagabond by John Bradburne, selected by Professor David Crystal
- John Bradburne's Mutemwa in Poems and Pictures (ed. Professor David Crystal and Hilary Crystal)
- On Eagle's Wings: The Life and Death of John Bradburne (video)
External links
- The John Bradburne Memorial Society
- Further Information
- Letter from Zimbabwe in The SpectatorThe SpectatorThe Spectator is a weekly British magazine first published on 6 July 1828. It is currently owned by David and Frederick Barclay, who also owns The Daily Telegraph. Its principal subject areas are politics and culture...
, 30 June 2001 - John Bradburne at icon.co.za
- Mutemwa Leprosy Settlement and John Bradburne