St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church | |
---|---|
52°04′29″N3°07′37″W / 52.074774°N 3.127053°W | |
OS grid reference | SO2285242423 |
Location | The Presbytery, 4 Belmont Road, Hay-on-Wye, Powys HR3 5DA |
Country | United Kingdom |
Denomination | Roman Catholic |
Previous denomination | Calvinistic Methodist |
Website | https://www.stmichaelsrcbrecon.org.uk/st-joseph/ |
History | |
Status | Parish church |
Founded | 1968 |
Dedication | Saint Joseph |
Architecture | |
Functional status | Active |
Heritage designation | Hay conservation area |
Architect(s) | F.R. Bates, Son & Price of Newport |
Style | Gothic architecture |
Administration | |
Province | Cardiff |
Archdiocese | Cardiff-Menevia |
Deanery | Llandrindod Wells Deanery [1] |
Parish | St. Joseph's |
Clergy | |
Priest(s) | Fr. Jimmy Sebastian Pulickakunnel MCBS |
St. Joseph's Church is a Roman Catholic church in Belmont Rd, Hay-on-Wye which is in Powys, Wales. [2] The parish is in the Llandrindod Wells Deanery of the Archdiocese of Cardiff-Menevia. [3] [4] St. Joseph's is served out of St. Michael's Roman Catholic Church in Brecon. [5] [6] The Parish Priest for both parishes is Fr Jimmy Sebastian Pulickakunnel MCBS. Fr Jimmy is a member of the religious order of the Missionary Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament. [7] Canon Clyde Hughes Johnson, now retired, still helps in the parish and has done so for decades. [8] [9] [10]
Hay-on-Wye is a medieval town on the border of England and Wales in the area known as the Welsh Marches. Thanks to Richard Booth, Hay-on-Wye is widely known as the "town of books". [11] [12] On April Fools day in 1977, Booth proclaimed Hay-on-Wye as an "independent kingdom". He declared himself as "King" and his horse as "Prime Minister". [13] [14] The town hosts the annual Hay Festival of Literature & Arts . [15] [16] [17] [18] Literary connections to the parish include: Penelope Betjeman, [19] Christopher Dawson, [20] Evelyn Waugh, [21] and H.G. Wells. [22] Francis Kilvert is a literary connection for the geographical area known as "Kilvert country" which includes Hay-on-Wye and nearby villages, especially, Clyro and Llanigon. [23] [24] [12]
There are two regular Masses, Sunday at 9am and Thursday at 10am. The weekly newsletter contains details about social and liturgical events including the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Exposition, Holy day Masses etc. [25]
Parishioners play an active part in the life of the parish. The Parish Advisory Council includes parishioners with responsibilities for safeguarding, finances, maintenance and repair etc. Lay ministries include: altar serving, catechist (including RCIA), reader, eucharistic minister, hospitality etc. Periodic activities include: preparation of bidding prayers, church and altar linen cleaning, flower arranging etc.
Following the Welsh Methodist revival in 1762, some Welsh Methodist congregations were nicknamed the 'Jumpers'. [26] In 1774, John Wesley preached in St John's Chapel in Hay-in-Wye. [27] [28] His diary entry for the visit describes the 'Jumpers' behaviour "they clapped their hands with the utmost violence; they shook their heads; they distorted all their features; they threw their arms and legs to and fro in all variety of postures; they sang, roared, shouted, screamed with all their might to the no small terror of those that were near them". [26]
The Calvinistic Methodist denomination (now the Presbyterian Church of Wales) are the only nonconformist denomination indigenous to Wales. They formerly separated from the established church, the Church of England (and thus the Church in Wales) in 1811, facilitating the ordination of their own ministers. The Calvinistic Methodist denomination was formally established in 1823.
In 1828, the Tabernacle Calvinistic Methodist chapel was built in Belmont Rd, [29] Hay-on-Wye. The word "Tabernacle" in the church name emphasises the presence of God and the practice of Holy Communion. [30] The building of the new chapel was overseen by its minister Rev Dr Thomas Phillips.
In 1834, the antiquary Samuel Lewis described the Hay Tabernacle Calvinistic Methodist chapel as a "handsome place of worship". Many Calvinistic Methodist services were conducted in Welsh, however, it is not known what language was used in Hay. Samuel Lewis states that the Sunday school teachers from the Chapel taught a great number of the local children for free. [31] In 1836, after a decade as minister, Thomas Phillips left Hay to become the Welsh secretary of the ecumenical British and Foreign Bible Society. [32] [33]
By the end of the 19th-century, of the 6,427 known non-conformist chapels in Wales, more than half were rebuilt at least once. [34] In 1872, a new stone-built chapel was built at a cost of £700. [35] It was partly built on the foundations of the old Belmont Rd chapel, and portions of the walls were retained. The chapel was designed by the prolific Calvinistic Methodist architect Richard Owens of Liverpool. The architecture was based on the Classical and Gothic style of the gable entry type. [36] [37] The contractor for the building work was Mr. James Webb of Hay. [38] The building of the new chapel was overseen by its minister Rev Richmond Leigh Roose. [39] [40] [41] The minister was the father of the Wales international footballer Leigh Richmond Roose. [42] Leigh died heroically in 1916 in the Somme offensive and he is commemorated at the Thiepval memorial in France. [43] [44]
The Calvinistic Methodist minister Rev Rhys Thomas Pryddererch (or Prytherch) was a respected preacher in Hay-on-Wye and the local area. He died heroically in 1917 within 10 days of arriving on the Western front. [45] [46] He is commemorated on the Hay-on-Wye and Cusop War Memorial. [47] [48] [22] [49]
The Tabernacle Calvinistic Methodist chapel was closed, sometime in the early 1960s. The last known document is a pulpit supply list for 1963. A pulpit list is a directory of preachers who are qualified and available to lead services when the regular minister is unavailable. [50] [51] [52] In the late 1960s, the chapel was repurposed to become St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church. [53]
Following the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829, there was a growth in the Roman Catholic population in England and Wales. [54] In 1850, Pope Pius IX restored the hierarchy of dioceses in England and Wales in Universalis Ecclesiae. Wales was split between the Diocese of Shrewsbury and the Diocese of Newport and Menevia. [55] [56] [57] [58]
Without a Roman Catholic church in Hay-on-Wye since the 16th century, the faithful had to travel up to 20 miles by road, often assisting one another to get to churches. [59] Those that could afford to travel by rail could use the Hereford, Hay and Brecon Railway up until 1962 when the line was closed. The nearest churches included Brecon, [60] Weobley, [61] Belmont [62] and Hereford. [63] [64] The clergy at Belmont and St. Michael's provided a supportive role for the formative St. Joseph's parish. Belmont was founded in 1859 as a house of studies for the Benedictine monasteries at Downside, Ampleforth and Douai. [65] Until 1915, Belmont was also the Cathedral for the Diocese of Newport and Menevia. [66] The Gothic St. Michael's RC Church in Brecon and adjoining presbytery date from 1851, and were designed by the architect Charles Hansom (brother of Joseph Hansom). [67] [5] [68]
In 1892, Henry Richard Grant, a Roman Catholic, ran a newsagents and printing business [69] [70] [71] from 6 Castle Street, [72] [73] [74] [75] Hay-on-Wye. Henry was married to Jane Victoria Grant (née Hughes). They had seven sons and two daughters. At the start of the 20th-century most parishioners attended Roman Catholic Mass in the Grant's home, served by the Secular Priests from Brecon or the Benedictines of Belmont (formally designated an Abbey in 1920).
Attending Mass in schools was a possibility for families that sent their children to:
The conversion of the Caldey Island Benedictine monks to Roman Catholicism in 1913 meant that the monastery built by the Anglican Father Ignatius (Lyne) at Capel-y-Ffin, [88] near Llanthony Priory, [89] came under the ownership of a Caldey Island monk. The property was sold to a Roman Catholic lay person of deep faith but shallow morality. The property hosted a Roman Catholic community of artists and craftspeople known as the Guild of St Joseph and St Dominic. Consequently, Mass was celebrated at Capel-y-Ffin from 1913, initially by a monk from Caldey Abbey. [90]
Some would say that the origins of St. Joseph's parish is Celtic. Henry Richard Grant came from Scotland in 1892. Thomas Joseph Madigan came from Ireland in 1909, as did Rose Jones (née Fitzgerald) in 1926 and the Dewan family. Rose received the Papal award, the Benemerenti medal. Many of the descendants of the Celtic Victorian and Edwardian families are active parishioners. [91] Henry Norman Grant, eldest son of Henry Richard and Victoria Grant died heroically in 1916, [92] [93] on the first day of the Somme offensive. [94] He is commemorated on the Hay-on-Wye and Cusop War Memorial. [95] [96]
In 1925, Thomas Joseph Madigan, was a Councillor for Hay Town Council [97] and Brecon Town Council. [98] He owned a shop in Castle Street, Hay-on-Wye selling motorised vehicles, parts, petrol etc. [99] The shop was next to The Plaza Cinema (now Hay Cinema Bookshop) which later became J. V. Likes garage. Thomas Joseph Madigan acquired the lease for the assembly room in Market Street over the Cheese Market hall. [100] [101] The parish of St. Joseph's was created sometime in the 1920s, possibly when Bishop Francis Vaughan the Bishop of Menevia gave consent for Roman Catholic Mass to be celebrated in the hired assembly room. The hired room was also used as a Masonic lodge until 1972. [102] [103] Fr Flannery from Belmont spent months decorating the dilapidated assembly room, which was partially furnished with discarded furniture from Weobley [104] and Belmont. Colonel Abel Morrell of Wyecliffe and Miss Binney (who later became a Nun) also provided church furniture. Up to 1959 and for different periods of time, the Mass centre was served either by the Brecon clergy (1930, 1948) or the Belmont clergy (1926, 1939). [59] Anecdotally, current parishioners remember that the assembly room roof leaked when it rained, and getting coffins up and down the steep stairwell was challenging. [105] [106] [107] Fr John Brady (RIP-1975), the Parish Priest in Brecon introduced Sunday school in the afternoons in the assembly room. Led by Eileen Biddle, in good weather she would host the Sunday school in her home in Witney-on-Wye. [108] [59] [109] It took a while before the Mass centre could be formally registered for marriages. In 1951, the first Roman Catholic marriage in Hay-on-Wye since the 16th century, took place in St. Joseph's parish. Fr Cubley married Mr and Mrs Terrence Madigan. [91] [59] [110] [111] On one occasion Fr Patrick Shannon was called away after Mass on a family emergency, and had to leave the Blessed Sacrament. The bishop gave permission for John Grant and Thomas Joseph Madigan to watch and pray with the Blessed Sacrament in the interim period before collection. [59] The need for a larger church building grew as evacuees were billeted to Hay-on-Wye during the Second World War.
In the 1950s, members of the Madigan family ran the “Plaza” cinema in Brook Street, now the “Hay Cinema Bookshop”, opposite the Swan and behind Like's garage. In the late 1950s, John and Clive Grant, Des (aka Dessie) Madigan and other parishioners raised money to buy the Grade II listed Ashbrook House, in Church Street, Hay-on-Wye. [112] [113] [114] [115] [116] [117] This became known as the old Presbytery. The intention was to build a church in the grounds at some future date. [118] [119] [120]
In October 1960, Bishop John Petit the Bishop of Menevia appointed Fr Hugh Healey as the resident Roman Catholic Priest for the parish, the first since the 16th century, he lived in the old Presbytery. [121] A Church Building Funding Committee was set up, achieving excellent results. External practical and financial support was provided by Cyfeillion Amgueddfa Cymru (Friends of National Museum Wales), [122] and from the Sisters of Mercy and school children from the Glenamaddy, County Galway.
Fr Healey's zeal for fund raising was tireless. He held monthly jumble sales on the lawn of the old Presbytery. He would drive around the country to collect jumble, furniture and other items and was affectionally known as 'Steptoe' and the ' King of the Totters '. He would often repair and renovate the items to make a few shillings for the parish. He made leather belts and wallets to order. [91] [59] [123]
Anecdotal evidence by current parishioners reveal that Fr Healey would celebrate a veryearly Sunday morning Mass at St. Mary's chapel, Capel-y-Ffin, a distant outpost of the parish. He would then rush back to Hay-on-Wye to celebrate early Mass.
In 1967, rather than build a new church in the grounds of the old Presbytery, the former Calvinistic Methodist chapel in Belmont Rd, Hay-on-Wye was purchased by Fr Healey for the bargain price of £1,500. It was refurbished, re-roofed and adapted for Roman Catholic use by the firm of architects F.R. Bates, Son & Price of Newport at a cost of £6,000, leaving a debt over £3,000. The firm specialised in modernising Catholic churches across South Wales. [124] [125] [126] [127] [128] [129] [130] The contractor for the building work was Mr. Percy Price of Hay. For the first time the parish had its own church. On May 28, 1967 (Ascension day), St. Joseph's church was blessed and opened by Bishop Petit. The ecumenical spirit of the Second Vatican Council was manifest by the attendance of local Clergy from other Christian denominations. [110]
The 'Holy Joes' choir was formed in the 1970s - the musical successors to the 'Jumpers'. Their organist was Des Madigan (son of Thomas Joseph Madigan). He was renowned for playing the organ loudly. Consequently, the 'Holy Joes' were equally renowned for singly loudly, like the 'Jumpers'.
In 1740, William Seward, a lay preacher from the Calvinistic Methodist theological college Coleg Trefeca, and other outsiders visited Hay-on-Wye to promote the Calvinistic Methodist/Presbyterian cause. A stone thrown from a hostile crowd of locals in Black Lion Green resulted in Seward receiving head injuries. It led to his death a few days later, and becoming the first Methodist Martyr. [131] Current parishioners remember that in 1968, Rev Dr Ian Paisley and other outsiders came to Hay-on-Wye to protest about the repurposing of the Belmont Rd Presbyterian chapel. Paisley did not suffer the same fate as Seward, but he did suffer the same lack of influence over the locals. Richard Booth revealed that the outsiders did not reflect the view of the people of Hay-on-Wye. [110] [123] In the spirit of ecumenism, the Rev. Thomas Wright a Presbyterian from Coleg Trefeca was pleased with the "link with the building’s past" and he was "pleased that God was still to be honoured on that spot”. [132] [110] [123] In 2028, it will be 200 years of "honouring God" in the Belmont Rd chapel/church.
Fr Healey was a popular figure around town. He always had time to stop and talk, especially when walking his dog. He was a regular at the nearby Indian restaurant - he would have approved of Fr Jimmy's annual curry night. Parishioner Des Madigan, recounts that Fr Healey said he would "like to die with his boots on". He did, having to be carried from the St. Joseph's altar in 1984, dying soon after. Fr Hugh Healey carved his name into the history of Hay-on-Wye, a revered and much loved character by the parishioners and the people of Hay. [110] [123]
One of Fr Healey's parishioners also carved her name into the history of Hay-on-Wye. The author Lady Penelope Betjeman (and wife of the Poet Laureate John Betjeman) used to "come into town on her pony and trap, wearing a chunky knitted jumper and jodphurs". [19]
The old Presbytery was later sold, in order to purchase the new Presbytery adjoining the church in 1985. The Parish Priest at the time Fr Patrick Murray lived in a small flat in Oxford Road for a few months until the purchase was completed.
Canon Clyde Johnson advised Bishop James Hannigan to purchase the house which was to become the new Presbytery, "bringing great joy and encouragement to the parishioners". The Presbytery was also used as a parish centre, important in a town with limited capacity social venues. Additional Masses were celebrated in the house for ad-hoc family events. The house and the spacious gardens were used for parish social events.
The house flanking the new Presbytery was previously owned by John Grant (the grandson of Henry Richard Grant). The house on the other side of the Church was owned by another Roman Catholic, Mrs Rose Jones. The house that became new Presbytery was built in 1938 by Mr John Watkins of MiddleWood for Mr Ralph Jones, brother-in-law of Rose. The cluster of buildings was affectionally dubbed by Rose as the 'Vatican City'. [91]
The interior curved roof is one of the few original Presbyterian architectural features following the refurbishment in 1967. [143] [53]
In the late 1990s, Fr Tim Maloney commissioned a bespoke set of Stations of the Cross. Stonemason Caitriona Cartwright carved the Stations of the Cross using stone from local quarries. The text font was inspired by the letter cutting of 18th century headstones. Her other works includes a Baptismal font in a Wiltshire church. [144] [145]
The abstract coloured window glazing is thought to be the work of the Architects F.R. Bates, Son & Price of Newport. [53] Around the start of the new millennium, the windows either side of the church had deteriorated and had to be replaced with new stained glass. John Darlison oversaw that that the work was in keeping with the Hay conservation area specification. Another parishioner salvaged some of the stained glass windows from a skip, and repurposed some of the stained glass windows. The two large stained glass windows at the back of the church date to the 1967 refurbishment.
The church building is within the Hay Conservation area, but is not Grade II listed. [146] [147] The conservation area includes the entire medieval town of Hay-on-Wye. [148]
Due to its heritage, the church is not orientated traditionally i.e. towards the east. The altar faces towards the west and the entrance towards the east. The architecture is based on a thirteenth century Gothic style. The pitched roof is covered in Welsh slate and local stone was used for the rock-face stone front wall (looking from Belmont Rd). The gabled front has a central pointed window with three simply moulded lights with three hexagons in the tracery. To its left is a single pointed window with a straight head to the main light and a hexagon in the tracery. The wall on this side terminates with a stepped buttress carried up into a pinnacle.
The right hand side at the front has a small tower containing the pointed main entrance door, with a bell stage above which tapers to a square cap with a bold corbel table.
Architect Richard Owen's church designs often included a spire and an upper seating area. It is possible that a spire was intended to be added, or it was added but has been lost e.g. St. Davids. [149] [53] Shortage of interior space probably denied Owen the opportunity to include an upper seating area e.g. Aberystwyth. [150]
Fr Hugh Healey (RIP - 1984). [59] [110] [121] [123]
Fr Martin McCormack (RIP - 1984). [123]
Fr Patrick Murray (RIP - 1991). [91] [123]
Fr Peter Flanagan (RIP - 2008) SCJ. [123] [151] [152] [153]
Fr Tim Maloney (RIP - 2013) IC. [154] [155] [156] [157]
Fr Patrick Fitzgerald-Lombard O.Carm. [158]
Fr Jimmy Sebastian Pulickakunnel MCBS. [159]
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