page_title: Oratory of the Good Shepherd
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Oratory of the Good Shepherd / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Plaque
context_page_description: The Oratory of the Good Shepherd is a dispersed international Religious Community, within the Anglican Communion. Members of the Oratory are bound together by a common Rule and discipline, which requires consecrated celibacy, and are strengthened by prayer and fellowship; they do not normally live together in community but meet regularly in Chapter and Retreat and report to one another on their keeping of the rule.
  The spirit of the Oratory is expressed in the Seven Notes, which call the brethren to fellowship, stewardship of gifts and possessions, love, labour of the mind and to a life of joy and thanksgiving.
  The Rule of the Oratory requires celibacy, a regular account of spending and direction of life. The Rule commits the brethren of OGS to:
  praying for one another by name each day;
  daily Eucharist, where possible;
  Morning and Evening Prayer;
  and to an hour of private prayer.
  In addition, 'Labour of the Mind' is a characteristic of the Oratory and members are expected to spend time in study – although this takes a variety of forms for different brethren.
context_section_description: The Oratory began in 1913 as a group of University of Cambridge college chaplains who were looking for some form of disciplined life in the comfortable circumstances of the university of those days. The First World War interrupted things, but afterwards they came together again, meeting at Little Gidding, the site of Nicholas Ferrar's community in the 17th century. The "Notes" were compiled and the way of life devised.
  There has been controversy from the beginning, but whether the oratory was inspired by St Philip Neri or the French Oratory of Pierre de Bérulle is probably of little importance since OGS is sui generis.
  
  Until 1939, some of the brethren lived in the Oratory House in Cambridge, where they were joined by research students and others. In 1939 the Oratory House was passed on to the Franciscans, since when the Oratory has had no permanent base. On occasion two or three brethren have lived together when staffing a parish, but this has been the exception rather than the rule. 
  Among its members have been Fr Alec Vidler, a noted liberal scholar, and Fr Eric Mascall, a more conservative Thomist, and many have wondered how such diverse people could exist in the same order, but this has been perfectly possible, given the breadth enjoined by the Notes, and the ideal of the Love that makes for Peace. There are  still academics in the Oratory, but most of ite brethren can be found in parish communities across the world, all finding support and discipline from the Oratory in living out their individual vocations.
  The Oratory has two published histories: The History of the Oratory of the Good Shepherd by Henry Brandreth, OGS and George Tibbatts, OGS The Oratory of the Good Shepherd: The First Seventy Five Years.
caption: Commemorative Plaque in St John's Church, Little Gidding
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