St Agatha's, Landport

Last updated

St Agatha's Church
St Agatha's Church, Marketway, Portsmouth (NHLE Code 1245260) (November 2017) (3).jpg
Façade
Religion
Affiliation Catholic Church (since 2012)
Previously
Traditional Anglican Communion (1994-2012)
Church of England (1894-1954)
Rite Anglican Use
Ecclesiastical or organizational status Parish Church
Leadership Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham
Ordinary: The Revd Msgr David Waller
Rector: The Revd Msgr Robert Mercer
Location
Location Landport, Portsmouth, England
Geographic coordinates 50°48′8.22″N1°5′31.87″W / 50.8022833°N 1.0921861°W / 50.8022833; -1.0921861
Architecture
Architect(s) Joseph Henry Ball
Style Italianate Romanesque
General contractor W. R. Light and Son of Southsea
Groundbreaking1838
Completed1894
Construction cost£3,250
Website
sagathasbasilica.com

St Agatha's Church is a parish church in the Landport district of Portsmouth. It is now affiliated to the Roman Catholic Church through the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. It is situated on the Marketway next to the Cascades Shopping Centre. It was built between 1893 and 1895 for the Church of England and is a Grade II* listed building. [1]

Contents

History

Interior St Agatha, Portsmouth IMG 2503 (28590198940).jpg
Interior

Construction

Originally, the site had a small mission church situated in an area of extreme deprivation. [2] [3] The church was built because of the efforts of Father Robert William Radclyffe Dolling, an Irish Anglo-Catholic priest. He worked to alleviate the social ills of the area. [4] At the same time he received donations from the residents of Old Portsmouth to build a new church. [5] Construction began in 1893. [6]

The formal opening of the church took place on 27 October 1895 with a ceremony involving mass being said at the old mission church followed by a procession to the new church, [7] but the nature of the ritual led to a row with the Bishop of Winchester. [8]

Establishment

Dolling's successor, Father Tremenheere, continued to decorate the interior until 1914 when another long-serving incumbent arrived. Work done during this time included the completion of the murals and the addition of a wooden pulpit. [9] Tremenheere's successor, Father C. W. Coles, was to serve the parish through two world wars [10] until 1954 when the last service was held. In 1964 the church's ladychapel was demolished to allow for road widening. [6]

Traditional Anglican Communion

For the next 40 years it became a naval store until the Traditional Anglican Communion took it over for a form of worship very similar [11] to that originally provided by Dolling. The church survived this time largely intact although the lady chapel was demolished in 1964. [9]

Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham

In 2012 the parish joined the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, a canonical structure established in 2011 for former Anglicans wishing to convert to Catholicism, while preserving elements of a "distinctive Anglican patrimony". [12]

Present

The church is now also used for concerts. It has been described as a magnificent building, [13] as having a sumptuous interior, [14] and the "Cathedral of the car parks" in Portsmouth's shopping district. [15]

Following the reception of the retired Bishop of Matabeleland, Robert Mercer, who worshipped at the church, into the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, and other members of the church's clergy, St Agatha's began to be used as a place of worship for the ordinariate. [16] Much of the church's interior furnishing has been sourced from redundant churches. [6] The high altar is originally from Trinity church in Trinity Church Square via St Matthews in New Kent Road. [6]

The church has one Sunday Mass at 11:00 am. It also has weekday Masses at 11:00 am on Monday, Friday and Saturday. [16]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglican Use</span> Roman Rite liturgical use of former Anglicans in the Catholic Church

The Anglican Use, also known as Divine Worship, is a use of the Roman Rite celebrated by the personal ordinariates, originally created for former Anglicans who converted to Catholicism while wishing to maintain "aspects of the Anglican patrimony that are of particular value" and includes former Methodist converts to Catholicism who wish to retain aspects of Anglican and Methodist heritage, liturgy, and tradition. Its most common occurrence is within parishes of the personal ordinariates which were erected in 2009. Upon the promulgation of Divine Worship: The Missal, the term "Anglican Use" was replaced by "Divine Worship" in the liturgical books and complementary norms, though "Anglican Use" is still used to describe these liturgies as they existed from the papacy of John Paul II to present.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Dolling</span>

Robert William Radclyffe Dolling (1851–1902), often referred to as Father Dolling, was an Irish Anglo-Catholic priest who served mainly in London and Portsmouth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Our Lady of Walsingham</span> Title of Mary, mother of Jesus

Our Lady of Walsingham is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus venerated by Catholics and High Church Anglicans associated with the Marian apparitions to Richeldis de Faverches, a pious English noblewoman, in 1061 in the village of Walsingham in Norfolk, England. Lady Richeldis had a structure built named "The Holy House" in Walsingham which later became a shrine and place of pilgrimage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Latin liturgical rites</span> Category of Catholic rites of public worship

Latin liturgical rites, or Western liturgical rites, is a large family of liturgical rites and uses of public worship employed by the Latin Church, the largest particular church sui iuris of the Catholic Church, that originated in Europe where the Latin language once dominated. Its language is now known as Ecclesiastical Latin. The most used rite is the Roman Rite.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Landport</span> Settlement area on Portsea Island, England

Landport is a district located on Portsea Island and is considered the city centre of modern-day Portsmouth, England. The district is centred around Commercial Road and encompasses the Guildhall, Civic Centre, Portsmouth and Southsea Station and Commercial Road central shopping area. The original historic old town of Portsmouth lies to the south of Landport and is now known as Old Portsmouth. The district of Portsea lies to the West; Somers Town and Southsea are to the south; Fratton lies to the East and the Kingston Crescent area to the north.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keith Newton (prelate)</span> English Roman Catholic monsignor (born 1952)

Keith Newton is an English priest and prelate of the Catholic Church. Newton was named as the first ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham from 15 January 2011 to 29 April 2024, however he is not a Catholic bishop. Prior to his reception into the Catholic Church in 2011, Newton had been a priest and bishop of the Church of England; his last Anglican office was as Bishop of Richborough in the Province of Canterbury from 2002 to 31 December 2010.

Robert William Stanley Mercer CR is a Roman Catholic priest in England. Formerly an Anglican bishop, he was the fourth Bishop of Matabeleland in Zimbabwe, a diocese of the Church of the Province of Central Africa, a province of the Anglican Communion. Since 2012 he has been a priest in the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, a personal ordinariate for former Anglicans within the Roman Catholic Church in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edwin Barnes</span> British Roman Catholic priest (1935–2019)

Edwin Ronald Barnes was a British Roman Catholic priest and a former Church of England bishop. He was the Anglican Bishop of Richborough from 1995 to 2001 and was also formerly the president of the Church Union.

A personal ordinariate for former Anglicans, shortened as personal ordinariate or Anglican ordinariate, is a canonical structure within the Catholic Church established in order to enable "groups of Anglicans" and Methodists to join the Catholic Church while preserving elements of their liturgical and spiritual patrimony.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham</span> Catholic ecclesiastical jurisdiction for former Anglicans

The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in England and Wales is a personal ordinariate in the Latin Church of the Catholic Church immediately exempt, being directly subject to the Holy See. It is within the territory of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, of which its ordinary is a member, and also encompasses Scotland. It was established on 15 January 2011 for groups of former Anglicans in England and Wales in accordance with the apostolic constitution Anglicanorum coetibus of Pope Benedict XVI, which was supplemented with the Complementary Norms of Pope Francis in 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter</span> Diocese-like institution of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States

The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or personal ordinariate of the Catholic Church for Anglican converts in the United States and Canada. It allows these parishioners to maintain elements of Anglican liturgy and tradition in their services. The ordinariate was established by the Vatican in 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross</span> Catholic jurisdiction structure

The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross is a personal ordinariate of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church primarily within the territory of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference. It is organized to serve groups of Anglicans who desire full communion with the Catholic Church in Australia and Asia. Personal ordinariates, like military ordinariates and dioceses, are immediately subject to the Holy See in Rome. The motto of the ordinariate is Mea Gloria Fides. The current apostolic administrator is Anthony Randazzo, who succeeded the second ordinary, Carl Reid, in 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Church of Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory</span> Catholic parish church in London

The Church of Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory is a Catholic church on Warwick Street, Westminster, in central London. It is the oldest Catholic church in England. It was formerly known as the Royal Bavarian Chapel, because like several Catholic churches in London it originated as a chapel within a foreign embassy. It was built between 1789 and 1790 to the designs of Joseph Bonomi the Elder. The only surviving eighteenth-century Catholic chapel in London, it is a Grade II* listed building. The parish is now operated by the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, the British personal ordinariate for the Anglican Use within the Catholic Church, and acts as its central church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cathedral of Our Lady of Walsingham (Houston)</span> Church in Texas, United States

The Cathedral of Our Lady of Walsingham in Houston, Texas, is a Catholic church that serves as the cathedral of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter.

<i>Divine Worship: The Missal</i> Current Anglican Use Missal of the Catholic Church

Divine Worship: The Missal (DW:TM) is the liturgical book containing the instructions and texts for the celebration of Mass by the former Anglicans within the Catholic Church in the three personal ordinariates of Great Britain, United States and Canada, and Australia. The rite contained in this missal is the Anglican Use, a liturgical use of the Roman Rite Mass with elements of Anglican worship. It was approved for use beginning on the first Sunday of Advent, November 29, 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Anselm's Church, Pembury</span> Church in Kent, England

St Anselm's Church is a Catholic church which is part of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in Pembury, Kent, England. It was originally founded in the 1960s as a chapel-of-ease later serving as a mass centre before becoming its own quasi-parish within the personal ordinariate in 2011, following a conversion of a large number of Anglicans in Royal Tunbridge Wells.

<i>Divine Worship: Daily Office</i> Current Anglican Use Divine Office of the Catholic Church

The Divine Worship: Daily Office is the series of approved liturgical books of the Anglican Use Divine Offices for the personal ordinariates in the Catholic Church. Derived from multiple Anglican and Catholic sources, the Divine Worship: Daily Office replaces prior Anglican Use versions of the Liturgy of the Hours and the Anglican daily office. Alongside other Anglican Use books officially known as "Divine Worship", including the Divine Worship: The Missal, Divine Worship: Daily Office is considered a liturgical use of the Roman Rite.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Church of the Sacred Heart, Fareham</span> Church in Hampshire , United Kingdom

The Church of the Sacred Heart is the Roman Catholic parish church of the town of Fareham in Hampshire, southern England. It opened in 1878 on a centrally located site, replacing a converted shed which had been used for worship since 1873. John Crawley, a London-based architect whose other nearby Catholic churches include Portsmouth's Catholic cathedral and St Joseph's Church, Havant, was responsible for the design—a "small and well-detailed essay" in flint and brick, in the Decorated Gothic Revival style. The parish has a second church in an outer part of Fareham, but another in the nearby village of Portchester has closed and has been demolished.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holy Trinity Church, Gosport</span> Church in Hampshire, United Kingdom

Holy Trinity is a Church of England church in the Anglo-Catholic tradition in Gosport, Hampshire, within the Anglican Diocese of Portsmouth.

References

  1. ↑ Church of St Agatha, Portsmouth from British Listed Buildings, retrieved 11 February 2015
  2. ↑ "Portsea Island Churches" Lubbock, R.: Portsmouth City Council, 1969
  3. ↑ Don't touch the holy Joe: Father Dolling’s battle for Landport and St Agatha’s church Bryant, R: Hampshire, Ragged Right, 1995 ISBN   1-898269-05-X
  4. ↑ "The Life of Father Dolling" Osborne, C. E. pp. 60–207: London, Edward Arnold, 1903
  5. ↑ "The life of Father Dolling" Osborne, C. E.: Nottingham, Arnold, 1903
  6. 1 2 3 4 O’Brien, Charles; Bailey, Bruce; Pevsner, Nikolaus; Lloyd, David W. (2018). The Buildings of England Hampshire: South. Yale University Press. pp. 460–463. ISBN   9780300225037.
  7. ↑ Bryant, Roger (1995). Don’t touch the holy Joe: Father Dolling’s battle for Landport and St Agatha’s church. Ragged Right. p. 56. ISBN   1-898269-05-X.
  8. ↑ "Ten years in a Portsmouth slum" Dolling, R. W. R.: London, Brown Langham, 1903
  9. 1 2 Bryant, Roger (1995). Don’t touch the holy Joe: Father Dolling’s battle for Landport and St Agatha’s church. Ragged Right. pp. 52–53. ISBN   1-898269-05-X.
  10. ↑ War memorial
  11. ↑ 1994-Traditional Anglican Communion
  12. ↑ "History". S. Agatha's Church. 24 January 2020. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
  13. ↑ Architectural Description
  14. ↑ The Buildings of Hampshire & The Isle of Wight Pevsner, N. and Lloyd, D. W.: Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1967 ISBN   0-300-09606-2
  15. ↑ Geograph image
  16. 1 2 Portsmouth Ordinariate Group from Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, retrieved 11 February 2015
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.