ENGLAND, Fr. David Musgrave. Apropos the appointment of, and consecration-to-be of the newly Coadjutor Bishop of Shrewsbury Diocese in England (see First Holy Mass of the Year in Manchester Shrine); prior to this Mgr Mark Davies on being called to London by the Nuncio for an important matter of which he had no inkling, came to the Shrine for a short visit prior to departure to pray for discernment.
At this visit once again he was inspired by the motto of the altar frontal or antependium: Nothing Without You MTA Nothing Without us. This for Mgr Mark Davies encapsulates a New Testament Text he is fond of: I am the vine you are the branches (John 15; 5)
In an interview published on www.catholicchurch.org.uk he shares: ” I’d made a short detour on my way to London to visit a Shrine of Our Lady at Kearsley in Greater Manchester and there to place whatever was to be asked of me into Mary’s hands that I might respond with faith and courage. So when asked would I accept the Holy Father’s invitation I was able to reply, “If this is what the Holy Father asks of me then I accept.”
Nihil sine Christus – Nothing without Christ
On being told in London by the Nuncio that the Holy Father was elevating him bishop, he decided to partly use the Motto to read in Latin Nihil sine te on his Coat-of-Arms. Following this, in conferring with the necessary authorities at the Vatican they held the opinion it was somewhat vague; hence the Bishop-elect’s motto now reads: Nihil sine Christus – but of course we all really know what is intended!
Monsignor Davies has also requested on the night before his Episcopal ordination a small Vigil be held in the Shrine with himself, the Schoenstatt Fathers and a few others and the day following the Episcopal Ordination a Holy Mass of Thanksgiving, again in the Shrine with the Fathers and a small group of friends.
He will be ordained as bishop on February 22nd 2010 at St Anthony’s, Wythenshawe.
the actual motto is
Nihil Sine Christo
as the word Christus requires the ablative case in latin