Charles-Marie Widor, the French organ composer whose Tocatta has been the closing music for a zillion weddings, was born in Lyon today in 1844. The piece was featured in at least nine British royal weddings in the past century.
John Henry Newman was born today in 1801. An evangelical until he went to university, he later became the leader of the Oxford Movement, a campaign to make the Church of England more Catholic. In an 11-year series of 90 tracts, he argued not only that the Catholic Church had many traditions that were worth restoring, but that the Church of England was – despite what you might have been told – a reformed Catholic Church rather than Protestant. When hardly anyone listened, he gave up and took his flock over to Rome instead, where he was made a Cardinal.
Also born today, in 1907, was the English poet WH Auden, who described himself as Augustinian and Anglo-Catholic. His best-known poem today is ‘Funeral Blues’ (which begins, ’Stop all the clocks…’), which was showcased in the film Four Weddings and a Funeral.
To talk the dictionary through
Without a chance word coming true
Is more than Darwin’s apes could do.
WH Auden, ‘Hell’
Pope Julius II, ‘the warrior pope’, died today in 1513. He ruled the papal states at the height of their power and influence, and chose his name in honour of his military hero, Julius Caesar. He is praised by Machiavelli in his book, The Prince, for consolidating his power and following fortune.