THE P RTAL
May 2012 Page 7
Evelyn Underhill
Anglican Luminary by Fr Keith Robinson
One Anglican woman who lived before the era of women ’ s ordination , exercised a profound ministry and influence which continues today , and is likely to continue for many years to come . I speak of Evelyn Underhill , the only child of a barrister and his wife , educated at Kings College London and privileged to have been able to travel extensively in mainland Europe .
She became very attracted to art and the Catholic Faith out of which it had come , and wrestled throughout her life with the question of whether or not she ought to become a Catholic herself . But her parents were not sympathetic , and when she married in 1907 , neither was her husband .
Eventually she committed herself to the Anglo-catholic wing of the Church of England , when that movement was having something of a heyday , not entirely disconnected in all probability from the romantic spirit of those times .
Christian Mysticism
Evelyn was a woman of many interests and great ability , a skilful wood and metal-worker herself , with a deep appreciation of Christian history , art and liturgy , and she was particularly drawn to study the great Christian mystics - especially the fourteenth century Flemish mystical writer Jan van Ruysbroeck , on whom she was regarded as an expert .
Her own spiritual struggles and aspirations to know God led her into an exceptionally fruitful ministry in spiritual direction . She wrote ( and published ) poetry , three novels and many other books on Christian Mysticism ( over thirty books were published in all ). In 1927 she was made a Fellow of Kings College London , and very unusually for a woman at that time , was invited to lecture in the University of Oxford .
She became a much sought-after spiritual director in her own right , and a popular leader of retreats . Indeed she was a pioneer of the modern retreat movement . She founded the House of Retreat at Pleshey , near Chelmsford , in 1919 . She became a well-known and respected public speaker , and again unusually , a broadcaster of talks on the spiritual life .
Friedrich von Hugel
Between 1921 and 1924 she placed herself under the spiritual guidance of Friedrich von Hugel , a distinguished lay catholic living in England at the time . In a surviving letter dated 1931 , she defended her reason for remaining an Anglican .
She wrote : “ I solidly believe in the Catholic status of the Anglican Church , as to orders and sacraments , little as I appreciate many of the things done among us . It seems to me a respectable suburb of the city of God - but all the same , part of “ greater London ”.
I appreciate the superior food to be had nearer the centre of things . But the whole point to me is the fact that our Lord has put me here , keeps on giving me more and more jobs to do for souls here , and has never given me orders to move . I know what the push of God is like , and should obey it if it came .”
unmatched
One can well understand her position at that date , one with which many of us can identify . We can only conjecture what she might do if it were today ! In her obituary the Times said that on the subject of theology
“ she was unmatched by any of the professional teachers of her day ”.
Deeply distressed by the war , she survived the London Blitz of 1940 , but died during the following year , and is buried with her husband in the extended churchyard of St John at Hampstead .