Owing to war and pestilence, the Venerable English College has had to evacuate several times during its long history, most recently during the current Covid-19 pandemic. The month of May 2020 marks the eightieth anniversary of the ‘Exodus’ of 1940, when staff and eighty students had hurriedly to leave Rome because of the Second World War.

With the outbreak of war in September 1939, a number of precautions were taken in case the conflict should reach the Eternal City. Many of the treasures of the College, including the Martyrs’ painting and the full contents of the Archives, were taken to the Vatican for safekeeping and moneys were transferred to the Vatican Bank. Otherwise it was very much business as usual.

Indeed, at the beginning of May 1940, there was no immediate indication that things were drastically about to change. At St Peter’s there were two canonisations (Gemma Galgani and Marie Pelletier) and a beatification (Philippine Duchesne) – and the basilica was elaborately illuminated.

At the College, performances were given of a comic operetta entitled Princess Pauper, preparations made for the university examinations and the third-year theologians went on their sub-diaconate retreat. At the Mass arranged in the Catacombs on 9 May, several passers-by strayed in, including a German bishop who remained until the end. It was almost as if there was no war.

Nevertheless, it was clear that dark clouds loomed. At the Gregorian University, prayers were said for peace and for the students who had already returned home. On 5 May, the College diarist reported that ‘thousands of Romans, hoping and praying to be kept out of war, gathered to cheer the Pope as he passed along the streets to [the church of Santa Maria] Sopra Minerva for the celebrations in honour of St Catherine of Siena.’ (The Venerabile, vol. ix, no. 5, p. 458) Although allied with Germany, Italy was still at this stage non-belligerent.

On 10 May, the Germans advanced into the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg and the Battle for France began. Students gathered in the Vice-Rector’s room to listen to the resignation speech of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain (1869–1940) as he handed over to Winston Churchill (1874–1965). On 11 May, the crisis deepened as anti-British posters could be seen in the Roman streets: two students narrowly avoided trouble with the police by pulling some of them down.

On Pentecost Sunday, the Vice-Rector, who was acting in the absence of the Rector, Mgr John Macmillan (1899–1957), announced that the Whit Monday gita to Fregene, a popular beach near Rome, was cancelled. The situation, he said, was serious and tentative preparations needed to be made for a hasty departure. Although not completely unexpected, it seems to have come as a shock to many: ‘jaws dropped, eyes opened, lips parted, then tongues wagged.’ (The Venerabile, vol. ix, no. 5, p. 457)

There were several days of nervous waiting until confirmation was finally received, on the evening of 14 May, that the College would indeed need to be evacuated. During this time a myriad of preparations were made. Visa forms were filled in and cameras flashed for the necessary photographs. Cardinal Protector Camillo Caccia Dominioni (1877–1946) came to bid the community farewell and the Rector arrived back from England. A final visit was made to the Gregorian University to tie up loose ends:

Many discovered for the first time that Gregorian professors could be helpful, human and generous. Nevertheless they made all who wanted degrees submit to a test in free courses and auxiliary subjects—which in some cases meant from two to three hours of unadulterated exam. (The Venerabile, vol. ix, no. 5, p. 459)

Early on the morning of 16 May, the Rector celebrated a final community Mass and the students left for the station, still dressed in their cassocks, though civilian clothes had been ‘borrowed’ from the College stage in case they would be needed in transit. There were emotional scenes as the sisters and college servants waved them goodbye. At Termini station, two German students came to see off their friends, echoing similar scenes in 1915, when it was the Germans’ turn to evacuate the city.

The Venerabile of November 1940 records numerous details of the return journey through Italy and France: of cramped conditions, overbooked seats, youthful banter and the clicking of cameras as the Leaning Tower of Pisa was spotted through the windows. Despite the crisis threatening Europe, the journey was surprisingly smooth. The students stayed the night of 17–18 May at the Hotel Londres-New York in Paris and managed to have time for sightseeing, even though German troops would march down the Champs Élysées just a few weeks later.

Aware that the Channel ports were soon to fall, the College party decided to head for Le Havre in Normandy and places were secured on the last boat to Southampton. There was talk of the risks of mines and the inadequacies of lifebelts; Alan Clark (1919–2002), later to become the first Bishop of East Anglia, admitted:

Though we met these doleful prophecies with a suitable barrage of chaff, the cold feeling that sometimes assailed the pit of the stomach could not be entirely ascribed either to the badly fried eggs we had bolted in Paris or to the dank atmosphere of the port. (The Venerabile, vol. ix, no. 5, p401)

Back in London, some spent the night at the Hotel Royal and, on the morning of 20 May, a final community Mass was celebrated at Westminster Cathedral, in the Chapel of the English Martyrs, after which there was a brief meeting with the former Rector and archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Arthur Hinsley (1865-1943). The community was then dispersed, although the following month the College found a first temporary home at Croft Lodge, Ambleside, on the banks of Lake Windermere. The College would only return to Rome in 1946.

**Croft Lodge, Ambleside, the temporary abode of the ‘exiled’ Venerable English College, 1940**

The English College’s ‘Dunkirk moment’ of 1940 ensured the safe return of the community and the continuation of formation at home, centred around a temporary chapel.

**The College’s temporary chapel at Croft Lodge, Ambleside, autumn 1940**

The evacuation was full of risks but for many students the closest they got to a wartime adventure. On reaching London the students thanked the Vice-Rector for making the trip ‘as enjoyable as a gita.’ (The Venerabile, vol. ix, no. 5, p. 463)

The Exodus of May 1940