The Founding of the Guild

On 27th November 1887, Fr Fletcher and Mr Drummond established the Guild of Our Lady of Ransom as co-founders at Drummond’s chambers, Crown Office Row, London to enrol Catholics in the work of conversion, the restoration of the lapsed and prayer for the forgotten dead. Thousands of Catholics enrolled, the first 2 priests to join were the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Manning, and St John Henry Newman.

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While Mr Drummond began public preaching, mostly at Hyde Park Corner, Fr Fletcher travelled the country giving public lectures, organising processions in London and pilgrimages to sites of ancient devotion, which included, with the cooperation of their Anglican Deans, the Cathedrals of St Albans and Canterbury, and Westminster Abbey.

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In 1896, the next Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Vaughan, sought Fr Fletcher’s help in establishing the Converts Aid Society, later known as the St Barnabas Fund. Throughout the years of travel, preaching and writing Fr Fletcher sustained an apostolate to abandoned children in the east end of London.