Brompton Oratory
Brompton Oratory | |
---|---|
Westminster | |
Diocese | Westminster |
Deanery | Kensington and Chelsea |
Parish | Oratory |
Clergy | |
Archbishop | Vincent Nichols |
Provost | Julian Large |
Listed Building – Grade II* | |
Official name | The Oratory |
Designated | 15 April 1969 |
Reference no. | 1358123[1] |
Brompton Oratory, also known as the
Location
The church is on the
History
Foundation
Saint
The church still belongs to, and is served by, the Congregation of the London Oratory (see London Oratory).
Modern day
After World War II, with the resettlement of thousands of Polish Allied servicemen (many of them Roman Catholics) coming to Britain, South Kensington became a temporary Polish hub. Nearby were the offices of the Polish government-in-exile, the Polish Hearth Club and Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum among other meeting places for exiles. Due to the generosity of the Oratory Fathers, a Polish Solemn Mass was held every Sunday at 1 pm from 1945 until 1962 while the Polish community migrated westwards in the capital and the Polish Catholic Mission was able to establish in 1962 a parish at St Andrew Bobola Church, Hammersmith.[4]
During the Cold War, the area between the pillars and the wall at the front of the Brompton Oratory was used as a dead drop by Soviet spies in Britain, from where they hoped to communicate with Moscow.[5]
In September 2010 decorative banners were erected at the Brompton Oratory to celebrate the beatification of Cardinal Newman during the Pope's visit to London.[6]
Architecture
A design from Herbert Gribble, then 29, won a competition in March 1869. The
The competition specified the "Italian Renaissance" style, but the Roman Baroque and Wren are also drawn on.
Parish
The Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (The Oratory) is the parish church, part of the Roman Catholic metropolitan diocese of Westminster, at whose request the Oratory parish is run by the Fathers of the Oratory. It is part of the Kensington and Chelsea Deanery.[9]
Events
The church has strong ties with the nearby
In front of the statue of St Peter, under the choir loft (a reproduction of that in St Peter's) that the medieval dedication of England to St Peter and Our Lady was repeated by Cardinal Vaughan, as a defiant riposte to the Erastianism of English official religion.[citation needed] The congregation is one of the largest Catholic congregations in London.[citation needed]
Liturgy
It is part of the tradition of the oratory in England to ensure that the
Choirs
The London Oratory is internationally known as one of the custodians of classic Catholic liturgical traditions. Solemn Latin Mass and Vespers are celebrated on all Sundays and obligatory holy days in the year. In particular, the great liturgies of Christmas, Holy Week and Easter attract packed congregations.[citation needed]
To serve the liturgy, the Oratory Fathers have fostered a notable musical establishment comprising three separate choirs plus a professional music staff.[citation needed]
Senior choir
The London Oratory Choir is an adult, professional chamber choir serving the major liturgical celebrations in the Oratory Church, including solemn Latin Mass and Vespers on all the Sundays of the year and for major feasts. Dating from the establishment of the London Oratory on its present Brompton Road site in 1854, the London Oratory Choir is England's senior professional Catholic choir, and has an international reputation as one of the world's leading exponents of choral music within the traditional Roman Rite, noted especially for its performances of Renaissance polyphony and the Masses of the Classical Viennese school. Recent Directors of Music have included Henry Washington (1935–1971), John Hoban (1971–1995), Andrew Carwood (1995–1999) and Patrick Russill (1999–present).
Junior choir
The London Oratory Junior Choir was founded in 1973 by John Hoban to give boys and girls together an opportunity to serve the liturgy in a great church. In addition to singing regularly one evening service and one Sunday (English) Mass every week, the Oratory Junior Choir is also active outside the Oratory. Noted for its free tone and forthright delivery, it has appeared in all London's major concert halls and at the Proms, with conductors including
Schola
The London Oratory School Schola choir was founded in 1996. Educated in the Junior House of the London Oratory School in Fulham (London), boys from the age of 7 are given choral and instrumental training within a musical environment underpinned by Catholic traditions. The Schola is regarded as one of London's leading boys' choirs and sings at the Saturday 6.00pm Mass in term time, at daily prayer services and at benediction in the School chapel. The Director of the Schola is Charles Cole. In addition to liturgical and concert performances, the choir has recorded The Lord of the Rings (film series) soundtracks. Its audio albums have mainly been joint albums with minor collaboration in performing Leonard Bernstein reflective, spiritual works or with soloist Roxanna Panufnik.[10]
Organ
Brompton Oratory has a rich organ tradition since that of the Downes organ; its organists have been: Ralph Downes (1936–1977), Patrick Russill (1977–99), John McGreal (1999–2011), Matthew Martin (2011-2017)[citation needed] and Ben Bloor (2017 - current).[11] The organ of 45 stops, 3 manuals and pedals, built by J. W. Walker & Sons Ltd, 1952–54, to the specification of Ralph Downes, was the first church organ in London to be built on neo-classical lines, and is considered[by whom?] one of the finest British organs built since World War II.[citation needed]
Notable weddings and ceremonies
Year | Ceremony |
---|---|
1865 | Stéphane Mallarmé married Marie Gerhard |
1889 | Alice Roberts
|
1891 | Ernest Dowson officially confirmed as a Catholic at the church |
1918 | Matyla Ghyka married Eileen O'Conor
|
1926 | Alfred Hitchcock married Alma Reville |
1933 | Charles Francis Sweeny married Margaret Wigham |
1941 | Peter Thomas Geach
|
1974 | James Hunt married Suzy Miller |
1992 | Marco Pierre White married Lisa Butcher |
Catholic aristocrats who married at the church include John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute, and Gwendoline Fitzalan-Howard (1872),[12] Lord William Beauchamp Nevill and Mabel Murietta (1889),[13] Bernard Fitzalan-Howard, 16th Duke of Norfolk, and Lavinia Strutt (1937),[14] Simon Fraser, 15th Lord Lovat, and Rosamund Broughton (1938),[15] Peter Kerr, 12th Marquess of Lothian, and Antonella Newland (1943),[16] Anthony Noel, 5th Earl of Gainsborough, and Mary Stourton (1947) and Julian Asquith, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Asquith, and Anne Palairet (1947).[17] Others who married at the church include Lord of Appeal in Ordinary Baron Russell of Killowen, traveller and landowner John Talbot Clifton and author Violet Clifton (1907) and Australian rules footballer Joe Fogarty (24 December 1916).[18]
Trivia
Brompton Oratory is said to have inspired the name of a British-made folding bicycle with small wheels, intended for commuters, the Brompton Bicycle.[19]
References
- ^ Historic England. "The Oratory (1358123)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
- ^ a b "Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary" (London Oratory)
- ^ The Oratory House – Grade II* listing – Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1080763)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
- ISBN 978-0957458208(in Polish)
- ISBN 1473811600.
- ^ Banners for Cardinal Newman's beatification (twitpic.com). Date accessed: 21 October 2013
- ^ The London Oratory, Survey of London: volume 41: Brompton (1983), pp. 50–57. Date accessed: 9 March 2009
- ^ Napier , Michael and Laing Alistair (1985) The London Oratory, Centenary 1884–1894, Trefoil Books, London
- ^ ""Our Diocese", Diocese of Westminster". Archived from the original on 31 March 2019. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
- ^ London Oratory School Schola works at Amazon.co.uk Example of publications. Date accessed: 21 October 2013
- ^ "Music Staff". Brompton Oratory.
- ^ "Gwendoline, Marchioness of Bute (Biographical details)". British Museum.
- ^ "Marriage of Lord W. Nevill". Newcastle Courant. British Newspaper Archive. 16 February 1889. p. 3 col.3. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
- ^ "Foreign News: $50,000,000 and 45 cents". Time. 8 February 1937.
- ^ "Lady Lovat, widow of the wartime Commando leader, dies at 94". The Times. 7 March 2012.
- ^ "Obituaries — Antonella, Marchioness of Lothian". The Scotsman. 12 January 2007.
- ^ "Obituary: The Countess of Oxford and Asquith". The Independent. 7 September 1998.
- ^ Service record, p.19.
- ^ Wood, Zoe (9 November 2009). "Brompton Bicycle: crafted for cult appeal". The Guardian (Financial). p. 28. Archived from the original on 14 December 2013. Retrieved 22 November 2009.
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