A Particularly Significant Visit from the Twenty-sixth President of St. Edmund’s College
St Edmund’s College was honoured to welcome The Most Reverend Richard Moth, Archbishop of Westminster, for a special visit to the College on Tuesday 22nd September.
The visit was particularly significant as Archbishop Moth is the twelfth Archbishop of Westminster and twenty-sixth President of St Edmund’s College, continuing the historic relationship between the College and the Archbishops of Westminster.
Appointed Archbishop of Westminster by Pope Leo XIV in December 2025 and installed at Westminster Cathedral in February this year, Archbishop Moth brings extensive experience to the role, having previously served as Bishop of the Forces and, for more than a decade, as Bishop of Arundel and Brighton. In April, he was also elected President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales.
His day at St Edmund’s began with a welcome from the Chairman of Governors, Deacon Paul Raynes; Priest in Residence, Fr Peter Lyness; Headmaster, Matthew Mostyn; and Prep School Headmaster, Steven Cartwright.
At the heart of the visit was a wonderful celebration of Mass in the College Chapel, bringing the St Edmund’s community together in prayer and worship. The beautiful liturgy was made especially memorable by the College’s Schola Choir, whose exceptional singing filled the Chapel and provided a fitting musical setting for such an important occasion.
Following Mass, Archbishop Moth met the College servers before touring the College with the Headmaster and Chairman of Governors. The visit offered His Grace an opportunity to see St Edmund’s in action and to experience the distinctive combination of faith, learning, community and opportunity that has characterised an Edmundian education for generations.
The afternoon provided a particularly strong connection between St Edmund’s past and present. Archbishop Moth visited the College Museum and historic collections, exploring a heritage that stretches back through centuries of Catholic education, before continuing to the Prep School. There, he toured the school with Prep Headmaster Steven Cartwright, visited the Chapel of St Hugh and met pupils, staff and parents.
The day concluded with a significant moment in the continuing story of St Edmund’s: the official blessing and opening of the Fr Michael Pinot de Moira Sixth Form Centre, “the Pinot Centre”.
Rhetoric students gathered with staff for the ceremony as Archbishop Moth blessed the new centre and formally marked its opening. The occasion brought together the College’s history, faith and future: a new space dedicated to preparing the next generation of Edmundians for life beyond St Edmund’s, opened by the newest Archbishop of Westminster and President of the College.
The Archbishop’s visit came during the first year of his ministry in Westminster. Since his installation in February 2026, he has spoken of a mission grounded in prayer and the celebration of the liturgy, and of bringing the light of the Gospel and the peace of Christ into the world. His visit provided a powerful opportunity for our pupils to see those principles reflected in the life of the College.
For St Edmund’s, whose story has been shaped by faith, education and service for more than four centuries, the day was both a celebration of that inheritance and a reminder of our responsibility to carry it forward.
We are enormously grateful to Archbishop Moth for giving so generously of his time and for sharing such a memorable day with pupils, staff, Governors, parents and members of the wider Edmundian community. We look forward to welcoming His Grace back to St Edmund’s in the years ahead.