Annual Lecture

The St George’s House 2025 Annual Lecture on Tuesday 15th July by

HE Cardinal Vincent Nichols on:

Those who want heaven most serve Earth the best

Vincent Nichols was ordained to the Priesthood for the Archdiocese of Liverpool on 21 December 1969. He studied at the Venerable English College, Rome, the University of Manchester (MA) and Loyola University, Chicago (Med). Subsequently he was priest in St Anne’s Parish in the Toxeth area of Liverpool and in 1980 appointed Director of Upholland Northern Institute, a provincial centre for Adult Education. He served for eight years as the General Secretary of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales and was ordained Bishop of North London in 1992. In 1998 he was appointed Chairman of the Bishops’ Conference Department for Catholic Education and Formation, and also Chairman of the Catholic Education Service. He was installed as Archbishop of Birmingham on 29 March 2000. He was installed as Archbishop of Westminster on 21 May 2009 and appointed President of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales thereafter. On 16 December 2013 he was appointed a member of the Congregation for Bishops and created a Cardinal on 22 February 2014. From 1 September 2014, he became the first Chancellor of St Mary’s University Twickenham. From 23 February 2015, Bailiff Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion, Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta.

Publications:

Promise of Future Glory: Reflections on the Mass, 1997; Promessa di gloria futura. Riflessioni sulla messa (Italian), 1999; Missioners, Priest and People Today, 2007; Be Open to God’s Love: First Homilies at Westminster, 2009; St John Fisher, Bishop and Theologian in Reformation and Controversy, 2011; Hope in Action: Reaching Out to a World in Need, 2017; Exploring the Mass, 2017; Faith Finding a Voice, 2018; Gospel in Art: The Nativity of the Saints Altarpiece, Pietro Orioli, 2018; Eucharistic Reflections, 2018; The Glory of the Cross, 2019.

A transcript of the Lecture can be found here. Please click on the image below for a recording of the Lecture.