page_title: St Magnus-the-Martyr
section_title: Between the wars: Fr Fynes and the Anglo-Catholic tradition
hierarchical_section_title: St Magnus-the-Martyr / History / Between the wars: Fr Fynes and the Anglo-Catholic tradition
caption_attribution_description: English: Icon within St Magnus-the-Martyr
context_page_description: St Magnus the Martyr, London Bridge is a Church of England church and parish within the City of London. The church, which is located in Lower Thames Street near The Monument to the Great Fire of London, is part of the Diocese of London and under the pastoral care of the Bishop of Fulham. It is a Grade I listed building. The rector uses the title "Cardinal Rector", being the last remaining cleric in the Church of England to use the title Cardinal.
  St Magnus lies on the original alignment of London Bridge between the City and Southwark. The ancient parish was united with that of St Margaret, New Fish Street, in 1670 and with that of St Michael, Crooked Lane, in 1831. The three united parishes retained separate vestries and churchwardens. Parish clerks continue to be appointed for each of the three parishes.
  St Magnus is the guild church of the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers and the Worshipful Company of Plumbers, and the ward church of the Ward of Bridge and Bridge Without. It is also twinned with the Church of the Resurrection in New York City.
  Its prominent location and beauty have prompted many mentions in literature.
context_section_description: The interior of the church was restored by Martin Travers in 1924, in a neo-baroque style, reflecting the Anglo-Catholic character of the congregation following the appointment of Henry Joy Fynes-Clinton as rector. Fynes-Clinton served as rector of St Magnus from 31 May 1921 until his death on 4 December 1959 and substantially beautified the interior of the church.
  Fynes-Clinton held very strong Anglo-Catholic views, and proceeded to make St Magnus as much like a baroque Roman Catholic church as possible. However, "he was such a loveable character with an old-world courtesy which was irresistible, that it was difficult for anyone to be unpleasant to him, however much they might disapprove of his views". He generally said the Roman Mass in Latin; and in personality was "grave, grand, well-connected and holy, with a laconic sense of humour". To a Protestant who had come to see Coverdale's monument he is reported to have said "We have just had a service in the language out of which he translated the Bible." The use of Latin in services was not, however, without grammatical danger. A response from his parishioners of "Ora pro nobis" after "Omnes sancti Angeli et Archangeli" in the Litany of the Saints would elicit a pause and the correction "No, Orate pro nobis."
  In 1922 Fynes-Clinton refounded the Fraternity of Our Lady de Salve Regina.  The fraternity's badge is shown in the stained glass window at the east end of the north wall of the church above the reredos of the Lady Chapel altar. He also erected a statue of Our Lady of Walsingham and arranged pilgrimages to the Norfolk shrine, where he was one of the founding guardians. In 1928 the journal of the Catholic League reported that St Magnus had presented a votive candle to the shrine at Walsingham "in token of our common Devotion and the mutual sympathy and prayers that are we hope a growing bond between the peaceful country shrine and the church in the heart of the hurrying City, from the Altar of which the Pilgrimages regularly start".
  Fynes-Clinton was General Secretary of the Anglican and Eastern Orthodox Churches Union and its successor, the Anglican and Eastern Churches Association, from 1906 to 1920 and served as Secretary to the Archbishop of Canterbury's Eastern Churches Committee from 1920 to around 1924. A Solemn Requiem was celebrated at St Magnus in September 1921 for the late King Peter of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.
  At the midday service on 1 March 1922, J. A. Kensit, leader of the Protestant Truth Society, got up and protested against the form of worship. The proposed changes to the church in 1924 led to a hearing in the Consistory Court of the Chancellor of the Diocese of London and an appeal to the Court of Arches. Judgement was given by the latter Court in October 1924. The advowson was purchased in 1931, without the knowledge of the Rector and Parochial Church Council, by the evangelical Sir Charles King-Harman. A number of such cases, including the purchase of the advowsons of Clapham and Hampstead Parish Churches by Sir Charles, led to the passage of the Benefices (Purchase of Rights of Patronage) Measure 1933. This allowed the parishioners of St Magnus to purchase the advowson from Sir Charles King-Harman for £1,300 in 1934 and transfer it to the Patronage Board.
  St Magnus was one of the churches that held special services before the opening of the second Anglo-Catholic Congress in 1923. Fynes-Clinton was the first incumbent to hold lunchtime services for City workers. Pathé News filmed the Palm Sunday procession at St Magnus in 1935. In The Towers of Trebizond, the novel by Rose Macauley published in 1956, Fr Chantry-Pigg's church is described as being several feet higher than St Mary’s Bourne Street and some inches above even St Magnus the Martyr.
  In July 1937 Fr Fynes-Clinton, with two members of his congregation, travelled to Kirkwall to be present at the 800th anniversary celebrations of St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall. During their stay they visited Egilsay and were shown the spot where St Magnus had been slain. Later Fynes-Clinton was prese
caption: Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham in St Magnus the Martyr
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