Holy Name Church | |
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Church of the Holy Name of Jesus, Chorlton on Medlock | |
53°27′52″N2°13′52″W / 53.4645°N 2.2311°W | |
OS grid reference | SJ8475796438 |
Location | Manchester |
Country | UK |
Denomination | Roman Catholic |
Website | www |
History | |
Status | Chapel of ease |
Founded | 15 October 1871 |
Founder(s) | Bishop William Turner |
Dedication | Holy Name of Jesus |
Consecrated | 1923 |
Architecture | |
Functional status | Active |
Heritage designation | Grade I |
Designated | 18 December 1963 |
Architect(s) | J. A. Hansom and Son |
Architectural type | Church |
Style | Gothic Revival |
Groundbreaking | 1869 |
Completed | 1928 |
Specifications | |
Capacity | 800 |
Length | 186 ft (57 m) |
Width | 122 ft (37 m) |
Spire height | 185 ft (56 m) |
Materials | Moulded Terracotta Warwick Bridge stone |
Administration | |
Province | Liverpool |
Diocese | Salford |
Deanery | Chorlton-on-Medlock |
Parish | St. Augustine Church [1] |
Clergy | |
Bishop(s) | Rt. Rev. John Arnold |
Rector | Fr Paul Fletcher SJ |
Priest in charge | Fr Dushan Croos SJ |
Priest(s) | Fr Philip Harrison SJ |
Laity | |
Director of music | Mr Luke Mather |
Organist(s) | Mr Simon Leach |
Business manager | The University of Manchester |
Music group(s) | Mrs Sarah Insall |
Parish administrator | Br Geoff Te Braake SJ |
The Church of the Holy Name of Jesus on Oxford Road, Manchester, England was designed by Joseph A. Hansom and built between 1869 and 1871. [2] The tower, designed by Adrian Gilbert Scott, was erected in 1928 in memory of Fr Bernard Vaughan, SJ. The church has been Grade I listed on the National Heritage List for England since 1989, having previously been Grade II* listed since 1963. [3]
In 1860, William Turner, the first bishop of Salford, invited the Jesuits to make a home in Chorlton-on-Medlock, at the time a middle class suburb.
As well as the growing middle classes, Manchester was home to a large and expanding population of Irish immigrants who migrated to work in cotton manufacturing, especially after the Great Famine. In the area known as Little Ireland, the Parish of St Mary, Mulberry Street was unable to cope; in twenty years, thirteen priests had succumbed to typhus whilst working amongst the city's poor. [4]
The Jesuits had a formidable record of outreach and missionary work, and this was put to good use. Whilst he was rector from 1888 to 1901, [5] Fr Bernard Vaughan SJ took part in a series of debates with the Anglican Bishop of Manchester, James Moorhouse, over rival claims of the Catholic Church in England and Wales and the Church of England to be the Catholic Church in England and successor of St. Augustine. In their jubilation, the young men of Holy Name pulled his carriage from the city centre all the way to the church. [6]
Bishop Turner was keen to have a church in Chorlton-on-Medlock staffed with priests who could meet the intellectual, apologetic and controversial needs of Manchester. Jesuits from St Helens came to settle, at first in a temporary church (now the site of the Holy Name Hall, which has since been sold). Holy Name was made a parish church to serve the growing populations of the parishes of Longsight and Chorlton-on-Medlock, as villas were replaced by streets as the population of industrial Manchester grew. The construction of the building re-inforced the power of the Jesuit order and the revived confidence of the English Catholics. It is the largest church in Manchester and dominates the surrounding area. [7]
The church's dimensions and proportions are on the scale of a 14th-century cathedral; it is 186 feet long east to west and 112 feet wide. The architect Joseph Aloysius Hansom (who gave his name to the Hansom Cab) based the building on Gothic styles of France. Sir Nikolaus Pevsner described it as
"...a design of the very highest quality and of an originality nowhere demonstrative; ... Hansom never again did so marvellous a church." [8]
Although mediaeval in appearance, it is a counter-Reformation church, designed to teach the faith through its external liturgical and devotional manifestation. It gives maximum exposure to the solemn celebration of the Mass (a raised altar near the congregation with no rood screen, and a shallow, broad sanctuary), the cult of the Eucharist (the eye is first carried to the tabernacle and the exposition throne above), preaching (a large pulpit to place the preacher intimately in the congregation), and the hearing of confessions (the whole north side is taken up with confessionals designed for long hours of priestly ministration). Consequently, the pillars in the church are unusually slender, accomplished by making the roof of the church from hollow terracotta tubes, manufactured by Gibbs and Canning. [9]
Built in brick, it is clad in brushed Warwick stone. Hansom's original design called for a broad shrine shaped steeple 73 feet high. In 1928 the tower was built, designed by Adrian Gilbert Scott.
The nave can accommodate 800 worshippers. Small chapels adorn the south side, along with the baptistery towards the west. On the north side are confessionals, each with a fireplace. Between the confessionals and the chapels are the Stations of the Cross. The pulpit has a mosaic of the English Martyrs. According to Simon Jenkins, the church interior has "an aura unlike any church I know", and the interior decoration gives an "impression of no expense spared". [7]
At the Holy Name Mass is celebrated in English. The celebration of the liturgy is designed to be catechetical, with solemn ritual, music, hymns and a familiar preaching style. Sunday Mass lasts about an hour. Weekday Masses, designed to suit the student timetable, are at 12:30pm. Each lunchtime there is exposition of the Blessed Sacrament at noon, during which confessions are heard.
The organ is located at the west end of the nave. Built in 1871 by William Hill & Son of London, [10] it has 48 speaking stops over three-manuals and pedals. [11] It was completely rebuilt in 1926 by Messrs Wadsworth Ltd and restored in 2004. It is maintained by David Wells of Liverpool. The pipes on the front of the case are ornately diapered and were restored to their original colour scheme of lighter shades of red and green with gold motifs. Above the organ and choir loft are two gilded angels.
Music for the Solemn Mass follows the decrees of the Vatican, and utilises Gregorian chant and polyphony on Sundays (with congregational English hymns), whilst for major solemnities there are classical organ and orchestral settings from the 17th to the 21st century.
The bishop asked the Jesuits to close the church in 1985. By then the congregation had dwindled because of local shifts in housing and demographics, and the church was closed for most of the day. The diocese did not want it, so the major superiors of England and Wales were asked to consider its viability. A community of secular priests and lay brothers (an Oratory of St Philip in Formation) came to Manchester in 1992 and since then the church has been in the process of massive renovation project. It is open daily and congregational numbers have increased.[ citation needed ]
In September 2012, it was announced that the Jesuits would return to Manchester to take over the chaplaincy to the Universities, the Royal Northern College of Music and the church. The Oratory community at the Holy Name under Fr Raymond Matus was relocated to St Chad's, Cheetham Hill where Bishop Terence Brain had granted them permission to establish a Congregation of the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri. [12]
Leslie Stuart was a Southport born composer of stage musicals and popular songs of the Victorian and Edwardian era. In 1899 he wrote his biggest hit Florodora which was produced on Broadway in New York. In 1887 Bernard Vaughan employed Stuart as organist at the Holy Name. He lived nearby with his family in a large semidetached villa on Lime Grove. [13]
Jerome Caminada known as the Manchester Sherlock Holmes was a Manchester born police officer and the first CID superintendent of the city. He had a long association with the Holy Name, he married Amelia Wainhouse there in 1881, and his requiem mass was held there in 1914. [14]
Manchester band The Smiths referred to the Holy Name church in the opening line of Vicar in a Tutu, "I was minding my business lifting some lead off the roof of The Holy Name church". [15]
The funeral of locally born actress Pat Phoenix, best known for her role of Elsie Tanner in Coronation Street , was held at the church following her death in September 1986.[ citation needed ]
Herbert Alfred Henry Joseph Thomas Vaughan was an English prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Westminster from 1892 until his death in 1903, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1893. He was the founder in 1866 of St Joseph's Foreign Missionary Society, known best as the Mill Hill Missionaries. He also founded the Catholic Truth Society and St. Bede's College, Manchester. As Archbishop of Westminster, he led the capital campaign and construction of Westminster Cathedral.
Chorlton-on-Medlock is an inner city area of Manchester, England.
Brompton Oratory, also known as the London Oratory, is a neo-classical late-Victorian Catholic parish church in the Brompton area of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, neighbouring Knightsbridge, London. Its name stems from Oratorians, who own the building, live nextdoor at the London Oratory, and service the parish. The church's formal title is the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
The Birmingham Oratory is a Catholic religious community of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri, located in the Edgbaston area of Birmingham. The community was founded in 1849 by John Henry Newman as the first house of that congregation in England.
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The Hidden Gem, officially St Mary's Catholic Church, is a church on Mulberry Street, Manchester, England. The parish dates back to 1794, with devotion to St Mary, Our Lady of the Assumption, and the present church, rebuilt in 1848, is a Grade II*-listed building which includes the Diocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Manchester.
Bernard Vaughan, SJ (1847–1922) was an English Catholic priest, brother of Bishops Herbert, Roger and John Stephen Vaughan.
English Martyrs Church or its full name The Church of St Thomas of Canterbury and the English Martyrs is a Roman Catholic Parish church in Preston, Lancashire. It was designed by Edward Welby Pugin and is under the administration of the Diocese of Lancaster. It is near to Preston city centre and stands on the corner of the A6, between Aqueduct Street and St George's Road. Since 2017, it has been in the care of priests from the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest.
St John's Church is a Roman Catholic Church in Standishgate, Wigan, Greater Manchester. It is within 200 feet of another Catholic church, St Mary's. Construction on both churches, was done in a spirit of competition, so they both were finished in the same year, 1819. The competition was because St John's Church was originally served by the Society of Jesus, whereas St Mary's was always served by priests from the diocese. However, the Jesuits gave the church to the Archdiocese of Liverpool in 1933. It is a Grade II* listed building and the sanctuary inside the church was designed by Joseph John Scoles.
Our Lady Immaculate and St Joseph Church is a Roman Catholic parish church in Prescot, Merseyside. It was built in 1856-57 by the Society of Jesus, and is now in the Knowsley deanery of the Archdiocese of Liverpool. It is a Grade II listed building, designed by Joseph Aloysius Hansom, and is next to the Church of St Mary on Vicarage Place in the centre of Prescot.
The Oratory Church of Saint Chad's, Manchester is a Grade II listed Catholic church in Cheetham Hill, Manchester, England. It was constructed between 1846 and 1847, on the east side of Cheetham Hill Road. The parish functions under the jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Salford.
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St Joseph's Church is a Roman Catholic Parish church in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. It was built from 1861 to 1862 and designed by Matthew Ellison Hadfield. It is situated on St Petersgate, south west of the High Street. It is the only church in England administered by the Priests of the Sacred Heart and is a Grade II listed building.
Manchester is a city in Northwest England. The M13 postcode area is to the south of the centre of the city and includes parts of the districts of Chorlton-on-Medlock and Longsight. The postcode area contains 38 listed buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England. Of these, one is listed at Grade I, the highest of the three grades, seven are at Grade II*, the middle grade, and the others are at Grade II, the lowest grade. The area includes the main buildings of the University of Manchester, some of which are listed, as are some hospitals. The area is otherwise mainly residential, and the other listed buildings include houses, some of which have been converted for other uses, churches and chapels, public houses, former public baths, a museum, a milepost, railings, a statue, and a war memorial.
Manchester is a city in Northwest England. The M15 postcode area is to the southwest of the centre of the city and includes the areas of Hulme, and parts of Moss Side and Chorlton-on-Medlock. The postcode area contains 33 listed buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England. Of these, two are listed at Grade II*, the middle grade of the three grades, and the others are at Grade II, the lowest grade.
St Mary's Church or St Mary Immaculate Church is a Roman Catholic parish church in Falmouth, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It was built from 1868 to 1869 and designed by Joseph Hansom. The architecture of the church, according to Historic England is a blend of "Gothic and Burgundian Romanesque styles". It is located on the corner of Kimberley Place and Killigrew Street. It was extended by Hansom's son Joseph Stanislaus Hansom in 1881 and it is a Grade II listed building.