Oh for the foresight to have started these posts a year ago today.
Still, here we are, on the first day of 2015 aptly recording excerpts from the 1915 "Catholic Who's Who & Year Book" (Burns & Oates; Edited by Sir F. C. Burnand; 3/6 NET) – but naturally recounting aspects from 1914, as per the publication itself.
Why are we doing this? Well, simply because we're blessed with immediate access to these treasured Year Book volumes – and it is not only good to breathe a little digital-life back into such rare titles, but also, we hope, it will prove a small web-service for those interested in the Catholic history and heritage of our lands over the last century. Also, what more fitting time to start this series than during these years commemorating the centenary of World War I (an atrocity which, inevitably, features prominently in the Catholic Who's Who & Year Book volumes of that period)? Moreover, we would hope that as we episodically highlight the names of those who populated our Catholic sanctuaries and pews 100 years ago that prayers will be offered aplenty for their souls.
So, without further ado, verbatim, we start from the first line of the first entry of the 1915 Year Book's annual diary section entitled "The Catholic Year" looking back on 1914:
