A clothing designer who becoming a priest, transformed Saint Mary Major in Rome, Monsignor Dilwyn Lewis welcomed the Pope to Britain in 1982 and was subsequently put in charge of the running and restoration of the said Roman Basilica. Appointed canon of the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major in 1984, back then, among other problems, the ancient ceiling - decorated with the first gold which came from the New World and donated by Pope Alexander VI - was sagging and was in danger of collapsing. Water had got behind the 7th-century mosaics which were starting to crumble, and indeed the whole church was shabby and run down. The new Archpriest of the Basilica, Cardinal Luigi Dadaglio, soon put the general administration and restoration works into the hands of Msgr. Lewis. Appointed vicar capitular of the Basilica and created Protonotary Apostolic, immediately modern business methods were applied to the day-to-day administration of the basilica, with the sale of property and the tendering of contracts. In addition, Lewis used his linguistic gifts on whirlwind fundraising tours, especially in Germany and America and, gradually, an immense programme of works was undertaken and paid for.
The fabric of the Basilica and its art treasures were restored completely. It is no exaggeration to say that Lewis was responsible for saving for posterity a church which is in itself both a museum of western art and a living part of the world's cultural heritage. Amid all the restoration work, Monsignor Lewis did not forget that Saint Mary Major is part of the daily life of the Catholic Church in Rome and thus improved the standards of religious services in the basilica.
Keeping in mind that he had once been a member of the Church of England, he obtained permission from the Vatican for Anglican priests to celebrate the Eucharist in the Basilica and in 1998 persuaded the Vatican to lend to Canterbury Cathedral for an exhibition a yellow silk dalmatic which had belonged to Saint Thomas Becket. Lewis had been infact brought up in an orphanage and began his studies for the Anglican ministry at Kelham College, near Southwell, eventually leaving to join the Roman Catholic Church.
Working for some years for a cloth company in Bradford in sales, his gift for design was soon recognised and he eventually set up his own freelance design company and moved to London. Operating out of his flat in Duke Street, Mayfair, he sold his designs across Europe. During these years he discovered an aptitude for languages and eventually became fluent in all the main European languages. During a sales trip to Italy in 1960 he met Cardinal Montini, the future Pope Paul VI, at the time Archbishop of Milan. It was he who first suggested Lewis might become a priest. However he did not take up the offer. Often remarking that had he done so he would have become a cardinal, instead he concentrated upon building up an extremely successful business in the rag trade.
An illness and a spell in hospital made him feel an emptiness in his life and approaching an old friend, David Cashman, the Bishop of Arundel and Brighton, to offer himself for the Church, at the age of 46, in 1970 he was sent as an ecclesiastical student to the Beda College in Rome. Ordained priest at Arundel Cathedral in 1974, he was appointed curate at Saint Clement's in Ewell, Surrey.
After a spell as chaplain for English speakers in Reggio Calabria, during which he also worked on ecumenical relations, he was appointed chaplain to Gatwick Airport. It is often alleged that English Roman Catholic authorities find it hard to cope with anything more than mediocre talent, and Dilwyn Lewis might well have passed the rest of his days in the byways of rural Sussex had it not been for the visit of Pope John Paul II to England.
In character, Dilwyn Lewis was forceful and dramatic with a witty turn of phrase at once amusing and embarrassing, especially as his loud voice - able with ease to fill a basilica - often gave his indiscretions a larger audience than was intended. His frequent tantrums bore witness to a deep psychological wound going back to his childhood and caused many a rift with friends and colleagues. But he was always generous with his great wealth, especially to the young and impoverished and invariably entertaining even in his anger.
The years of stressful toil and frequent rage with people less energetic than himself undermined his health and in 1996 he suffered the first of seven heart attacks. A quadruple bypass operation followed and diabetes was diagnosed. He died suddenly in Ireland, a few days after preaching at the First Mass of a newly ordained priest he had met at the Irish College in Rome. His body was returned to Rome and a requiem Mass concelebrated by the present Archpriest, Cardinal Carlo Furno, and the Chapter of the Basilica, followed by burial in the crypt of Saint Mary Major.
The fabric of the Basilica and its art treasures were restored completely. It is no exaggeration to say that Lewis was responsible for saving for posterity a church which is in itself both a museum of western art and a living part of the world's cultural heritage. Amid all the restoration work, Monsignor Lewis did not forget that Saint Mary Major is part of the daily life of the Catholic Church in Rome and thus improved the standards of religious services in the basilica.
Keeping in mind that he had once been a member of the Church of England, he obtained permission from the Vatican for Anglican priests to celebrate the Eucharist in the Basilica and in 1998 persuaded the Vatican to lend to Canterbury Cathedral for an exhibition a yellow silk dalmatic which had belonged to Saint Thomas Becket. Lewis had been infact brought up in an orphanage and began his studies for the Anglican ministry at Kelham College, near Southwell, eventually leaving to join the Roman Catholic Church.
Working for some years for a cloth company in Bradford in sales, his gift for design was soon recognised and he eventually set up his own freelance design company and moved to London. Operating out of his flat in Duke Street, Mayfair, he sold his designs across Europe. During these years he discovered an aptitude for languages and eventually became fluent in all the main European languages. During a sales trip to Italy in 1960 he met Cardinal Montini, the future Pope Paul VI, at the time Archbishop of Milan. It was he who first suggested Lewis might become a priest. However he did not take up the offer. Often remarking that had he done so he would have become a cardinal, instead he concentrated upon building up an extremely successful business in the rag trade.
An illness and a spell in hospital made him feel an emptiness in his life and approaching an old friend, David Cashman, the Bishop of Arundel and Brighton, to offer himself for the Church, at the age of 46, in 1970 he was sent as an ecclesiastical student to the Beda College in Rome. Ordained priest at Arundel Cathedral in 1974, he was appointed curate at Saint Clement's in Ewell, Surrey.
After a spell as chaplain for English speakers in Reggio Calabria, during which he also worked on ecumenical relations, he was appointed chaplain to Gatwick Airport. It is often alleged that English Roman Catholic authorities find it hard to cope with anything more than mediocre talent, and Dilwyn Lewis might well have passed the rest of his days in the byways of rural Sussex had it not been for the visit of Pope John Paul II to England.
In character, Dilwyn Lewis was forceful and dramatic with a witty turn of phrase at once amusing and embarrassing, especially as his loud voice - able with ease to fill a basilica - often gave his indiscretions a larger audience than was intended. His frequent tantrums bore witness to a deep psychological wound going back to his childhood and caused many a rift with friends and colleagues. But he was always generous with his great wealth, especially to the young and impoverished and invariably entertaining even in his anger.
The years of stressful toil and frequent rage with people less energetic than himself undermined his health and in 1996 he suffered the first of seven heart attacks. A quadruple bypass operation followed and diabetes was diagnosed. He died suddenly in Ireland, a few days after preaching at the First Mass of a newly ordained priest he had met at the Irish College in Rome. His body was returned to Rome and a requiem Mass concelebrated by the present Archpriest, Cardinal Carlo Furno, and the Chapter of the Basilica, followed by burial in the crypt of Saint Mary Major.
A clothing designer who becoming a priest, transformed Saint Mary Major in Rome, Monsignor Dilwyn Lewis welcomed the Pope to Britain in 1982 and was subsequently put in charge of the running and restoration of the said Roman Basilica. Appointed canon of the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major in 1984, back then, among other problems, the ancient ceiling - decorated with the first gold which came from the New World and donated by Pope Alexander VI - was sagging and was in danger of collapsing. Water had got behind the 7th-century mosaics which were starting to crumble, and indeed the whole church was shabby and run down. The new Archpriest of the Basilica, Cardinal Luigi Dadaglio, soon put the general administration and restoration works into the hands of Msgr. Lewis. Appointed vicar capitular of the Basilica and created Protonotary Apostolic, immediately modern business methods were applied to the day-to-day administration of the basilica, with the sale of property and the tendering of contracts. In addition, Lewis used his linguistic gifts on whirlwind fundraising tours, especially in Germany and America and, gradually, an immense programme of works was undertaken and paid for.
The fabric of the Basilica and its art treasures were restored completely. It is no exaggeration to say that Lewis was responsible for saving for posterity a church which is in itself both a museum of western art and a living part of the world's cultural heritage. Amid all the restoration work, Monsignor Lewis did not forget that Saint Mary Major is part of the daily life of the Catholic Church in Rome and thus improved the standards of religious services in the basilica.
Keeping in mind that he had once been a member of the Church of England, he obtained permission from the Vatican for Anglican priests to celebrate the Eucharist in the Basilica and in 1998 persuaded the Vatican to lend to Canterbury Cathedral for an exhibition a yellow silk dalmatic which had belonged to Saint Thomas Becket. Lewis had been infact brought up in an orphanage and began his studies for the Anglican ministry at Kelham College, near Southwell, eventually leaving to join the Roman Catholic Church.
Working for some years for a cloth company in Bradford in sales, his gift for design was soon recognised and he eventually set up his own freelance design company and moved to London. Operating out of his flat in Duke Street, Mayfair, he sold his designs across Europe. During these years he discovered an aptitude for languages and eventually became fluent in all the main European languages. During a sales trip to Italy in 1960 he met Cardinal Montini, the future Pope Paul VI, at the time Archbishop of Milan. It was he who first suggested Lewis might become a priest. However he did not take up the offer. Often remarking that had he done so he would have become a cardinal, instead he concentrated upon building up an extremely successful business in the rag trade.
An illness and a spell in hospital made him feel an emptiness in his life and approaching an old friend, David Cashman, the Bishop of Arundel and Brighton, to offer himself for the Church, at the age of 46, in 1970 he was sent as an ecclesiastical student to the Beda College in Rome. Ordained priest at Arundel Cathedral in 1974, he was appointed curate at Saint Clement's in Ewell, Surrey.
After a spell as chaplain for English speakers in Reggio Calabria, during which he also worked on ecumenical relations, he was appointed chaplain to Gatwick Airport. It is often alleged that English Roman Catholic authorities find it hard to cope with anything more than mediocre talent, and Dilwyn Lewis might well have passed the rest of his days in the byways of rural Sussex had it not been for the visit of Pope John Paul II to England.
In character, Dilwyn Lewis was forceful and dramatic with a witty turn of phrase at once amusing and embarrassing, especially as his loud voice - able with ease to fill a basilica - often gave his indiscretions a larger audience than was intended. His frequent tantrums bore witness to a deep psychological wound going back to his childhood and caused many a rift with friends and colleagues. But he was always generous with his great wealth, especially to the young and impoverished and invariably entertaining even in his anger.
The years of stressful toil and frequent rage with people less energetic than himself undermined his health and in 1996 he suffered the first of seven heart attacks. A quadruple bypass operation followed and diabetes was diagnosed. He died suddenly in Ireland, a few days after preaching at the First Mass of a newly ordained priest he had met at the Irish College in Rome. His body was returned to Rome and a requiem Mass concelebrated by the present Archpriest, Cardinal Carlo Furno, and the Chapter of the Basilica, followed by burial in the crypt of Saint Mary Major.
The fabric of the Basilica and its art treasures were restored completely. It is no exaggeration to say that Lewis was responsible for saving for posterity a church which is in itself both a museum of western art and a living part of the world's cultural heritage. Amid all the restoration work, Monsignor Lewis did not forget that Saint Mary Major is part of the daily life of the Catholic Church in Rome and thus improved the standards of religious services in the basilica.
Keeping in mind that he had once been a member of the Church of England, he obtained permission from the Vatican for Anglican priests to celebrate the Eucharist in the Basilica and in 1998 persuaded the Vatican to lend to Canterbury Cathedral for an exhibition a yellow silk dalmatic which had belonged to Saint Thomas Becket. Lewis had been infact brought up in an orphanage and began his studies for the Anglican ministry at Kelham College, near Southwell, eventually leaving to join the Roman Catholic Church.
Working for some years for a cloth company in Bradford in sales, his gift for design was soon recognised and he eventually set up his own freelance design company and moved to London. Operating out of his flat in Duke Street, Mayfair, he sold his designs across Europe. During these years he discovered an aptitude for languages and eventually became fluent in all the main European languages. During a sales trip to Italy in 1960 he met Cardinal Montini, the future Pope Paul VI, at the time Archbishop of Milan. It was he who first suggested Lewis might become a priest. However he did not take up the offer. Often remarking that had he done so he would have become a cardinal, instead he concentrated upon building up an extremely successful business in the rag trade.
An illness and a spell in hospital made him feel an emptiness in his life and approaching an old friend, David Cashman, the Bishop of Arundel and Brighton, to offer himself for the Church, at the age of 46, in 1970 he was sent as an ecclesiastical student to the Beda College in Rome. Ordained priest at Arundel Cathedral in 1974, he was appointed curate at Saint Clement's in Ewell, Surrey.
After a spell as chaplain for English speakers in Reggio Calabria, during which he also worked on ecumenical relations, he was appointed chaplain to Gatwick Airport. It is often alleged that English Roman Catholic authorities find it hard to cope with anything more than mediocre talent, and Dilwyn Lewis might well have passed the rest of his days in the byways of rural Sussex had it not been for the visit of Pope John Paul II to England.
In character, Dilwyn Lewis was forceful and dramatic with a witty turn of phrase at once amusing and embarrassing, especially as his loud voice - able with ease to fill a basilica - often gave his indiscretions a larger audience than was intended. His frequent tantrums bore witness to a deep psychological wound going back to his childhood and caused many a rift with friends and colleagues. But he was always generous with his great wealth, especially to the young and impoverished and invariably entertaining even in his anger.
The years of stressful toil and frequent rage with people less energetic than himself undermined his health and in 1996 he suffered the first of seven heart attacks. A quadruple bypass operation followed and diabetes was diagnosed. He died suddenly in Ireland, a few days after preaching at the First Mass of a newly ordained priest he had met at the Irish College in Rome. His body was returned to Rome and a requiem Mass concelebrated by the present Archpriest, Cardinal Carlo Furno, and the Chapter of the Basilica, followed by burial in the crypt of Saint Mary Major.
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