St David Lewis and St Francis Xavier Church | |
---|---|
![]() | |
![]() | |
51°42′16″N2°54′16″W / 51.7044°N 2.9044°W | |
OS grid reference | SO375010 |
Location | Usk, Wales |
Country | United Kingdom |
Denomination | Roman Catholic |
Website | CatholicParishofUsk.org.uk |
History | |
Status | Parish church |
Dedication | Francis Xavier, David Lewis |
Architecture | |
Functional status | Active |
Heritage designation | Grade II listed |
Designated | 30 April 2004 [1] |
Architect(s) | Charles Hansom |
Completed | 14 October 1847 |
Administration | |
Province | Cardiff-Menevia |
Archdiocese | Cardiff-Menevia |
Deanery | North Gwent [2] |
Parish | St David Lewis & St Francis Xavier |
St David Lewis and St Francis Xavier Church is a Roman Catholic parish church in Usk, Monmouthshire, Wales. It was built in 1847 and designed by Charles Hansom in the Gothic Revival style. The church is dedicated to two Jesuit saints, Francis Xavier and the local David Lewis, who is buried nearby. It is located on Porthycarne Street near the town centre. In 2019, a shrine in the church was dedicated to David Lewis. The church is a Grade II listed building. [1]
After the Reformation, Monmouthshire continued to have a local Catholic community. In 1616, David Lewis was born in Abergavenny, he became a Jesuit, and after his training he returned to work in Monmouthshire for thirty years. He headed the Jesuit college at Cwm, Llanrothal. In 1678, after praying at the Gunter Mansion he was arrested at St Michael's Church, Llantarnam, after being implicated in the fictitious Popish Plot, was executed in 1679, and buried in the graveyard of the Priory Church of St Mary, Usk. [3]
In the 1700s, Catholic Mass was celebrated in the home of the Davis family, Llancayo House, in Usk. In 1799, Fr Joseph Hunt was appointed by William Sharrock the Vicar Apostolic of the Western District to serve the Usk mission. In 1803, he was succeeded by Fr Charles Haly. Until 1847, Mass was celebrated in a chapel in Porthycarne Street. After the construction of the present church, the old chapel became a school and later the parish hall. [3]
In 1847, the present church was built. Francis McDonnell, a local solicitor, donated the land and paid for half of the construction costs. The architect was Charles Hansom. On 14 October 1847, the church was opened by the Vicar Apostolic of the Welsh District Joseph Brown. In the 1850s and 1860s windows, made by Hardman & Co., were installed in the church. In 1865, the tower, also designed by Hansom, was added. [3] In 1970, David Lewis was made a saint by Pope Paul VI. On 18 November 2019, a shrine in the church was dedicated to St David Lewis by the Archbishop of Cardiff George Stack. [4]
The Archdiocese of New York is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church located in the State of New York. It encompasses the boroughs of Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island in New York City and the counties of Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster, and Westchester to the north of the city. It does not include the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn or Queens, which are part of the Diocese of Brooklyn; however, the Diocese of Brooklyn is a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of New York.
Katharine Drexel, SBS was an American Catholic religious sister, and educator. In 1891, she founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, a religious congregation serving Black and Indigenous Americans.
The Diocese of Westminster is a Latin archdiocese of the Catholic Church in England. The diocese consists of most of London north of the River Thames and west of the River Lea, the borough of Spelthorne, and the county of Hertfordshire, which lies immediately to London's north.
The Archdiocese of Indianapolis is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in Indiana in the United States.
The Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas is a Latin Church ecclesiastical province, or archdiocese, of the Catholic Church in eastern Kansas in the United States.
The Oxford Oratory Church of St Aloysius Gonzaga is the Catholic parish church for the centre of Oxford, England. It is located at 25 Woodstock Road, next to Somerville College. The church is served by the Congregation of the Oratory.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint-Boniface is a Latin archdiocese in part of the civil Province of Manitoba in Canada. Despite having no suffragan dioceses, the archdiocese is nominally metropolitan and is an ecclesiastical province by itself. It is currently led by Archbishop Albert LeGatt.
David Lewis, S.J. was a Jesuit Catholic priest and martyr who was also known as Charles Baker and widely referred to in the Welsh language as Tad y Tlodion. During the religious persecution of the Catholic Church in Wales, which began under Henry VIII and ended only with Catholic Emancipation in 1829, Lewis served as superior of the illegal and underground Jesuit mission based at Cwm until his arrest by priest hunter John Arnold of Monmouthshire. In addition to his priestly ministry, Lewis stood accused of involvement in the Popish Plot, a regime change conspiracy theory concocted by Titus Oates and used by the dominant Whig political party as a pretext to launch an anti-Catholic moral panic and witch hunt during the Stuart Restoration. After being tried and convicted of high treason at Monmouth, Lewis was hanged, drawn and quartered at Usk on 27 August 1679.
Charles Francis Hansom was a prominent Roman Catholic Victorian architect who primarily designed in the Gothic Revival style.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Vellore is a diocese located in the city of Vellore in the ecclesiastical province of Madras and Mylapore in India.
The North Gwent Deanery, a Roman Catholic deanery in the Archdiocese of Cardiff-Menevia, previously in the Archdiocese of Cardiff in Wales, covers several churches in North Gwent and the surrounding area. In the early 2000s, the Head of the Valleys deanery was split. The churches in its western part, in the county boroughs of Merthyr Tydfi and Rhondda Cynon Taf, became part of the Pontypridd Deanery and the churches in its eastern part, in the county borough of Blaenau Gwent, became part of the North Gwent Deanery.
John Baptist Miège, S.J., was a Jesuit prelate and missionary. In addition to a career in education, he served as Vicar Apostolic of Kansas from 1851 to 1874.
Adrien-Hippolyte Languillat SJ (1808–1878) was a French Jesuit and missionary in China. He was titular bishop of Sergiopolis (1856–1878) and vicar apostolic of Southeastern Chi-Li (1856–1864) and Kiangnan (1864–1878).
St Francis Xavier Church is a Roman Catholic Parish church in the city centre of Hereford, Herefordshire. The neoclassical-style church was built in 1839 and was designated a Grade II* listed building on 10 June 1952. It is in the Hereford Deanery of the Archdiocese of Cardiff-Menevia.
St Osburg's Church also known as the Church of the Most Holy Sacrament and St Osburg is a Roman Catholic Parish church in Coventry, West Midlands. It was built from 1843 to 1845 and was designed by Charles Hansom. It is situated in the city centre on the junction between Holyhead Road and the Coventry Ring Road. It was founded by the Benedictines from Downside Abbey and is a Grade II listed building.
The Apostolic Vicariate of San Jose in Mindoro is a Latin Church missionary jurisdiction or apostolic vicariate of the Catholic Church in the western part of Mindoro island in the Philippines. Its cathedra is within the Cathedral-Parish of St. Joseph the Worker, in the episcopal see of San Jose.
Gunter Mansion, 37–39 Cross Street, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, Wales, is a house of the early 17th century. It was built around 1600 and mentioned in 1678 in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom as a place of public Catholic worship. It was the final place of prayer for Saint David Lewis before his execution on 27 August 1679. It is a Grade II* listed building.
Saint John the Baptist Catholic Church is a parish of the Roman Catholic Church in Silver Spring, Maryland, United States. It was established by the Archdiocese of Washington in 1960, and is dedicated to John the Baptist.
St John the Evangelist Church is a Catholic Parish church in Islington, London. It was built from 1841 to 1843, seven years before the Reestablishment of the Catholic hierarchy in 1850. It was designed by Joseph John Scoles, with parts of the interior by Edward Armitage. Architecturally, it is in the Romanesque Revival style. It is located on Duncan Terrace to the east of Upper Street close to the centre of Islington. It is a Grade II listed building.