Pantasaph | |
---|---|
![]() Farmland at Pantasaph | |
Location within Flintshire | |
OS grid reference | SJ161760 |
Principal area | |
Preserved county | |
Country | Wales |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | HOLYWELL |
Postcode district | CH8 |
Dialling code | 01352 |
Police | North Wales |
Fire | North Wales |
Ambulance | Welsh |
UK Parliament | |
Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament | |
Pantasaph is a small village in Flintshire, north-east Wales, two miles south of Holywell in the community of Whitford. Its name translates into English as Asaph's Hollow.
The abbey lands at one point belonged to the nearby Basingwerk Abbey. Pantasaph came into the possession of the Pennant family at the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The land passed down in the family until 1846, when the sole heiress Louisa married Rudolph, Viscount Feilding, heir to the 7th Earl of Denbigh. They both converted to Roman Catholicism and decided to donate St David's Church, which they had recently built for Pantasaph, to the Catholic Church. This caused a considerably outcry at the time.[ citation needed ] It was accepted by the Friars Minor Capuchin of Great Britain as their mother house and opened in 1852. The church was designed by T H Wyatt and modified, to make it more specifically suited to Catholic use, by Augustus Pugin, who designed the high altar, the pulpit, the baptismal font, the reredos in the Lady Chapel and a statue of the Madonna and Child. The altar, reredos and statue had been exhibited in the 'Mediaeval Court' at the Great Exhibition of 1851. [1] The pulpit was removed and destroyed during a post-Vatican II re-ordering in the 1960s. The graveyard holds the remains of three British soldiers shot for cowardice during World War I.[ citation needed ]
From St David's Church and the Friary, the Capuchins went on to start missions in other places in North Wales that became churches in their own right, such as Immaculate Conception Church in Flint in 1854 and St Anthony of Padua Church in Saltney from 1862. [2]
The village is also the location of the former St Clare's Convent which included a boarding school, a hospital and an orphanage. It was built by a Father Seraphin of Bruges, who brought the first group of sisters to it in 1861. It closed in 1977, having at its peak housed some 500 orphans. The site lay derelict for a number of years and was damaged by fire in 1985, but has since been partly demolished and the remainder restored as luxury accommodation. It is now a designated conservation area. [3]
The poet Francis Thompson spent some time recovering from illness at Pantasaph in the 1890s, lodging in a house beside the friary gates, at the post office and at Crecas Cottage between Pantasaph and Carmel.
The first friars occupied the original presbytery, (now called Denbigh House), designed by Wyatt as the vicarage to what was to be an Anglican church. Following the consecration of St David's church, the friary was constructed in Collegiate Gothic style between 1858 and 1865. A wing was added to the east in 1899 to form an L-shaped range with a turret in the angle. Built in two storeys with attics and basements it is constructed of snecked grey stone with sandstone dressings and steep slate roofs.
St David's church and the friary complex have all been awarded grade II* listed status. [4] The friary became a large Franciscan Retreat Centre, and the friars returned to live in Denbigh House, their original home at Pantasaph. The Retreat Centre closed in December 2017.
On the wooded hill behind the complex a 19th-century zig-zag path links a landscaped Lourdes Grotto and Stations of the Cross leading to a large Calvary hill on the hilltop. An inscription at the site reads, "Special indulgences are granted by the Holy See to all who shall devoutly visit this Calvary or make the Stations or who looking from a distance to this cross shall say a Hail Mary for the conversion of England." [5]
The Stations of the Cross are listed as Grade II in the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales. [6]
The Friary gardens house the National Padre Pio Centre.
The Franciscans are a group of related mendicant religious orders of the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi, these orders include three independent orders for men, orders for nuns such as the Order of Saint Clare, and the Third Order of Saint Francis open to male and female members. They adhere to the teachings and spiritual disciplines of the founder and of his main associates and followers, such as Clare of Assisi, Anthony of Padua, and Elizabeth of Hungary. Several smaller Protestant Franciscan orders or other groups have been established since late 1800s as well, particularly in the Anglican and Lutheran traditions.
The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin is a religious order of Franciscan friars within the Catholic Church, one of three "First Orders" that reformed from the Franciscan Friars Minor Observant, the other being the Conventuals (OFMConv). Franciscans reformed as Capuchins in 1525 with the purpose of regaining the original Habit (tunic) of St. Francis of Assisi and also for returning to a stricter observance of the rule established by Francis of Assisi in 1209.
Pio of Pietrelcina, widely known as Padre Pio, was an Italian Capuchin friar, priest, stigmatist, and mystic. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church, celebrated on 23 September.
The Sanctuary of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, also called Shrine of Padre Pio or Padre Pio Pilgrimage Church, is a Catholic shrine in San Giovanni Rotondo, Province of Foggia, Italy, owned by the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin and dedicated to the Italian Capuchin friar, priest, stigmatist, and mystic, widely known as Padre Pio.
The Buttevant Franciscan Friary is a ruined 13th-century Franciscan friary is situated in the middle of the town of Buttevant, County Cork, Ireland. The Augustinian friary in nearby Ballybeg is often confused with the Buttevant Franciscan Friary in historical documents.
John Aloysius Ward was a British Roman Catholic prelate. He served as Bishop of Menevia from 1 October 1980 until his appointment by Pope John Paul II as Metropolitan Archbishop of Cardiff on 25 March 1983. He served as archbishop until his retirement on 26 October 2001.
All Saints' Church is a Roman Catholic parish church situated between Dumplington and Barton upon Irwell, near Urmston, in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. The church was constructed between 1867 and 1868 and was designed by E. W. Pugin in the Gothic Revival style for Sir Humphrey de Trafford. It is situated on Redclyffe Road, close to the Manchester Ship Canal. The church is a Grade I listed building and considered to be an example of Pugin's best work, according to Nikolaus Pevsner, "the masterpiece of [Pugin's] life, without any doubt." It has been served by priests from the Conventual Franciscans since 1928.
Rudolph William Basil Feilding, 8th Earl of Denbigh, 7th Earl of Desmond, styled as Viscount Feilding until 1865, was a British peer and noted Roman Catholic convert, who founded the Franciscan friary at Pantasaph, North Wales.
In the United Kingdom, the term listed building refers to a building or other structure officially designated as being of special architectural, historical, or cultural significance; Grade II* structures are those considered to be "particularly important buildings of more than special interest". Listing was begun by a provision in the Town and Country Planning Act 1947. Once listed, strict limitations are imposed on the modifications allowed to a building's structure or fittings. In Wales, the authority for listing under the Planning Act 1990 rests with Cadw.
St Winefride's Church is a Roman Catholic Parish church in Holywell, Flintshire. It was founded by the Society of Jesus and was until recently the first church in the United Kingdom to be administered by the Vocationist Fathers now since departed as the parish returns into diocesan hands. It is Grade II listed building. It was the first church the Jesuits built in Wales.
Leicester's Church, originally known as St David's Church, Denbigh, is a large ruined church near to the hill top castle at Denbigh, North Wales. It was built for Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, from 1578, but financial difficulties meant work stopped in 1584. When the Earl died unexpectedly in 1588 the project was abandoned. It had been the only large church-building project in Elizabethan England or Wales. On Robert Dudley's death with no heir, his estates reverted to the Crown, as a roofless enclosed space. It is now a Grade I listed building and Scheduled Ancient Monument, cared for by Cadw, the Welsh historic environment service.
Ennis Friary was a Franciscan friary in the town of Ennis, County Clare, Ireland. It was established in the middle of the 13th century by the ruling O'Brien dynasty who supported it for most of its existence. Following the suppression of the monasteries in the 16th century, the friary continued to function for a while despite the loss of its lands. In the early 17th century, the buildings were handed over to the Church of Ireland as a place of worship. It was used as such until the late 19th century. After the construction of a new Church of Ireland building, the friary fell into ruin. Managed by the Office of Public Works since the late 19th century, it was formally returned to the Franciscan Order in 1969.
Immaculate Conception Church, also known as the Church of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, is a Roman Catholic parish church in Clevedon, Somerset. It was built from 1886 to 1887 and was designed by Alexander Scoles, an architect and priest who worked in Somerset. It is located on the intersection between Marine Parade, Marine Hill and Wellington Terrace, overlooking the Severn Estuary. It was founded by the Franciscan Order of Friars Minor who continue to serve the parish.
St Francis of Assisi Church is a Roman Catholic parish church in Stratford, London. It was founded from a mission that started in 1770. The church itself was built in 1868. The church is located on the corner of Grove Crescent Road and The Grove, and is accessible from both streets. The Franciscan Order of Friars Minor arrived in 1873, built a friary next door to the church in 1876 and continue to serve the parish.