On a Sunday evening, 2 days before Christmas in 1883, the vicar in charge of St Catherine’s Church in Ventnor, Revd Willan, demanded the keys to the vestry and attempted to lock the doors to prevent members of the congregation from entering the church.
Revd Willan then accused the curate – the Revd James Jones – of “having sold his soul for 30 pieces of silver for the sake of popularity”.
The Ventnor vicar was apparently driven by jealousy. Revd Jones was leaving Ventnor as he had been appointed to a curacy in Birmingham. A very large number of people had turned out to listen to his final sermon.
Revd Jones left the church together with most of the congregation. Revd Willan then announced there would be no sermon as he had not prepared one. When the organist Mr Petherick started up on the organ, the Revd Willan told him to “shut up”.
When the vicar left the church, he was met with groans and hisses from the congregation. Such was the hostility towards him that he required the assistance of 3 constables to reach his vicarage.
On reaching his garden, he was said to have shouted “such is religion”, to which he apparently received the retort “such is hypocrisy”.
