Robert the Bruce

King of Scots from 1306, Robert the Bruce (1274-1329)is best known for defeating the English under Edward II at Bannockburn in 1314. In 1328 the Treaty of Northampton recognized Scotland's independence and Robert the Bruce as king. In his later years Robert the Bruce longed to go to the Holy Land to fight against the Muslims, who were in possession of the Sepulcher of Christ. He was the more anxious to do this because he was troubled at the thought that when he was a young man he had slain a rival before the very altar of God. When he knew that he must die without fulfilling his desire, he asked Lord James Douglas to be responsible for taking his heart to the Holy Land to make up for his failure to go on crusade during his life and atone for his sins.
When Bruce died, Douglas put the king's heart in a silver casket and started with it for the Holy Land. In Spain he found the Christians hard pressed by the Muslims and went to their aid. In the heat of the battle he threw Bruce's heart into the midst of the infidel host, crying: "Go thou before as thou wert wont to do, and Douglas will follow!" The brave Douglas perished in the battle, but one of his knights recovered Bruce's heart. He carried it back to Scotland, where it was buried in Melrose Abbey.

Robert Browning

Robert Browning (1812-1889) was an English poet whose work was characterized by the accomplished use of dramatic monologue and an interest in obscure literary and historical figures. His works included the poems The Pied Piper of Hamelin (1842), and Home Thoughts from Abroad (1845). He was married to Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
When he was a teenager, Browning shocked his evangelical mother when he declared himself like his hero Shelley, an atheist. In later life he looked back on this as a passing phase and he became a knowledgeable Bible reader but always denied any Christian faith.

Elizabeth Browning

The English poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning is probably best known for her collection of poetry, Sonnets from the Portuguese (1850), a collection of love lyrics, which was written during her courtship with her husband Robert Browning. Elizabeth was bought up by a family that attended services at the nearest dissenting chapel and her father was active for years in Bible missionary societies. Elizabeth herself went through an evangelical “phase” and it is not clear how much she retained her faith as she developed an interest in spiritualism. However, she wrote a number of pieces about social injustice including the slave trade in America and the labor of children in the mines and mills of England.

Phillips Brooks

On Christmas Eve 1865, a young minister stood on the hill overlooking Bethlehem where the shepherds had watched their flocks on the night Jesus was born. The impression of that starry night never left Phillips Brooks. Three years later he was asked to write a hymn for the children of his Philadelphia parish for their Christmas service. The words "O Little Town Of Bethlehem" were already in his mind. Brooks' church organist, Lewis Redner, set the words to music, declaring that the tune was "a gift from heaven." Brooks became an outstanding preacher and possibly the most highly esteemed American clergyman of his day. His deep earnestness, eloquence and poetic insight, made a strong impression on his listeners.
Twenty years later Brooks, who was by now an American Episcopal Bishop, was recovering from a life-threatening illness. He refused to receive any visitors until his freethinking humanist friend Colonel Bob Ingersoll arrived. Ingersoll, who was a renowned defender of agnosticism, was curious to know the reason Brooks wished to see him rather than his Christian friends. The explanation Brooks gave was that whilst he is assured of seeing his other friends in the next life he does not know if he will see the agnostic Ingersoll again.

Charlotte and Emily Brontë

In 1847 the talented Brontë sisters published their masterpieces, Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. The daughters of an eccentric Low Church Irish clergyman, their different characters and approaches to Christianity were reflected in their works. The saintly, long-suffering Charlotte Brontë was an Anglican feminist and a passionate anti-Catholic who had been influenced by her Wesleyan family background with its belief that only complete adherence to God’s will brings salvation. These themes stand out in her Jane Eyre, where only after the brooding romantic Mr Rochester’s blindness, like St Paul, and his subsequent repentance to God can the book's heroine and Rochester be bought together.
Emily Brontë was a silent, reserved, emotionally bound up woman. In private she prefered to live in her imagined land of Gondal rather than the real world. The mystical Emily was obsessed by death. Her classic, poetical story, Wuthering Heights, about Heathcliffe’s doomed, obsessional love for Cathy shocked many critics with its immoral passion, unusual construction and violent nature.

The Brompton Oratory

The Brompton Oratory is a massive baroque Roman Catholic church, built 1878–84 to the design of Herbert Gribble (1847–94). It immediately played an important role in the re-establishment of Roman Catholicism, as London's largest and main place of worship until the opening of *Westminster Cathedral in 1903.

The Battle of Britain

In the summer of 1940, Germany’s Luftwaffe aircraft began destroying Britain's air force before launching a September sea force called Operation Sea Lion. The British Royal Air Force suffered greatly and it appeared it was about to be destroyed. In early September King George VI called the nation to prayer, many flocked to the churches and a week later on September 15th a critical battle was fought in the British skies was fought. Mysteriously when the RAF were down to their last legs with no reserves left, the Luftwaffe started to retreat and flew home. In retaliation for a RAF raid on Berlin, Hitler ordered a change of strategy of blitzing London and other British cities with night time raids. Even though there were many fatal British civilian casualties, this unexpectant change of tactics allowed the RAF to build up again their stock of planes and trained pilots. The prayers had been answered and Britain was saved from invasion.