Our Lady of Dolours, Chelsea | |
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51°29′05″N0°11′05″W / 51.4848°N 0.1846°W | |
Location | 264 Fulham Road, Chelsea, London SW10 |
Country | United Kingdom |
Denomination | Roman Catholic |
Religious order | Servite Order |
Website | http://servitechurch.org/pages/home.htm |
History | |
Former name(s) | Our Lady of Seven Dolours |
Status | Active |
Founded | 1873 |
Founder(s) | Father Philip Bosio OSM, Farher Agostino Morini OSM |
Dedication | Our Lady of Dolours |
Consecrated | 1875 |
Architecture | |
Functional status | Parish Church |
Heritage designation | Grade II |
Designated | 1984 |
Architect(s) | J. A. Hansom |
Architectural type | ecclesiastical |
Style | Gothic Revival |
Groundbreaking | 1873 |
Completed | 1874 |
Administration | |
Archdiocese | Westminster |
Clergy | |
Archbishop | Most Rev. Vincent Nichols |
Priest in charge | Patrick Ryall OSM |
Our Lady of Dolours, also known as the Servite Church, is a Roman Catholic parish church run by the Servite Order in Chelsea, central London. The building was designed in Gothic Revival style by J. A. Hansom in 1873. It is Grade II listed with Historic England. [1] It stands next to St Mary's Priory, at 264 Fulham Road close to the South Lodge entrance to Brompton Cemetery in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. [2] There is a mixed Roman Catholic primary school adjacent to the church and priory.
The parish and its church were initiated by two Italian Servite priests from Florence, Fr Philip Bosio OSM and Fr Augustine Morini OSM, who arrived in London in 1864. They came as missionary members of an ancient mendicant order to fill the shortage of Catholic priests in the wake of the English resumption of regular, public Catholic services after a break of nearly 250 years. From 1852 to 1869 St Mary's Church, Moorfields, built by the faithful, served as the first London diocesan seat of a re-established British Catholic church with a hierarchy.
Construction on the Fulham Road site began in 1874, led by Fr Philip Bosio OSM, with Joseph Hansom as architect. Hansom also designed the tower and priory frontage on Fulham Road (1879–80). It was originally named Our Lady of the Seven Dolours, but this was later simplified to the present dedication, (which is equivalent in meaning to Our Lady of Sorrows). [3] The church was consecrated by Cardinal Manning on 19 September 1875. From its beginning, when Roman Catholic parishes were being organised in the areas of Brompton, Fulham and Chelsea, the Servite Church was the most popular with the faithful, of whom crowds attended its services. [4]
The entrance colonnade passage by Hansom (1894) is unique in English churches. Other features include bronzes of the Redeemer and St. Peter by Mayer (1872), The Holy Face, after Lorenzo di Credi, 1895 and J. M. Swynnerton's Pietà (1896). The magnificent Gothic Reredos were unaccountably removed during a 1970s refurbishment. [5] The organ is by Henry Jones, built by Grant, Degens and Bradbeer in 1968.
The church serves native residents as well as an international community of Catholics who live in the area. One transient Italian family had their first-born baptised at the church on 18 May 1991, before returning to their homeland in September of that year. The baby, Carlo Acutis, whose life was cut short by Leukemia at the age of 15, was beatified in Assisi Cathedral on 10 October 2020. [6]
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is an Inner London borough with royal status. It is the smallest borough in London and the second smallest district in England; it is one of the most densely populated administrative regions in the United Kingdom. It includes affluent areas such as Notting Hill, Kensington, South Kensington, Chelsea, and Knightsbridge.
Joseph Aloysius Hansom was a British architect working principally in the Gothic Revival style. He invented the Hansom cab and founded the eminent architectural journal The Builder in 1843.
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The Servite Order, officially known as the Order of Servants of Mary, is one of the five original mendicant orders in the Roman Catholic Church. It includes several branches of friars, contemplative nuns, a congregation of religious sisters, and lay groups. The order's objectives are the sanctification of its members, the preaching of the Gospel, and the propagation of devotion to the Mother of God, with special reference to her sorrows. The Servites friars lead a community life in the tradition of the mendicant orders.
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.
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Benjamin Bucknall was an English architect of the Gothic Revival in South West England and South Wales, and then of neo-Moorish architecture in Algeria. His most noted works include the uncompleted Woodchester Mansion in Gloucestershire, England and his restoration of the Villa Montfeld in El Biar, Algiers.
The Church of Our Lady of Dolours, Wadala is a Roman Catholic church in Mumbai, India built in 1853. The parish of Our Lady of Dolours with its school, St. Joseph's was entrusted to the Salesians in 1948, about the same time as the Salesians settled in Matunga. The school was co-ed until the Salesian Sisters came into the Wadala Village with the Auxilium Convent for girls. The centerpiece of the church is a statue of the Pieta.
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