St George's Church, Worcester

Coordinates: 52°11′41″N 2°13′10″W / 52.1947°N 2.2195°W / 52.1947; -2.2195
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

St George's Church
Birmingham
DeaneryWorcester[1]

St George's Church is a

Archdiocese of Birmingham. It is in the Baroque style, is a Grade II* listed building and was where Edward Elgar was organist from 1885.[2]

History

Raphael's Transfiguration, a copy hangs behind the altar

There was another, earlier, church built on the same site in 1729, but little is known about it. From 1623, for their own administrative purposes the Jesuits divided the country into 'residences' and St George's church was named after the 'residence' that covered Warwickshire and Worcestershire, St George's.[3]

The church was opened on 16 July 1829 by, the

Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District, Bishop Thomas Walsh and was designed by Henry Rowe.[3]

Later that century, in 1880 the church was extended and the facade was heightened seven years later, to the designs of S. J. Nicoll,

.

Behind the altar is a large-scale copy of Raphael's Transfiguration. The original is significant to the city of Worcester because it was commissioned by Cardinal Giulio de' Medici in 1517. Cardinal Medici went on become the titular Bishop of Worcester from 1520 to 1522 and was elected as Pope Clement VII in 1523. The copy was presented to the church in 1837 by The 16th Earl of Shrewsbury.

Organ

The organ was installed in 1885, the same year that the English composer

Nicholson & Co (Worcester) Ltd, and the stops that were from the old organ were marked 'E' to indicate what Elgar used when he played it.[3]

Parish

Notice board in 2011

The church has 2 Sunday Masses: Sunday at 10:00am and 11:30am, and a Polish Mass at 2:00pm Furthermore, there are usually weekday Masses at 10:00am, Monday to Saturday. Confession can be heard on Saturday from 10:45am to 11.45am

The parish also has a relationship with the nearby St George's Catholic Primary School which states on its website that 'We are proud of our links to St George's Catholic Church, Worcester, where Elgar was an organist for many years.'[4]

See also

  • Society of Jesus
  • Worcester
  • Archdiocese of Birmingham

References

  1. Archdiocese of Birmingham
    retrieved 13 August 2013
  2. ^ British listed buildings retrieved 10 August 2013
  3. ^ a b c d Our history from StGeorgesRC-Worcester.org.uk retrieved 11 August 2013
  4. ^ About Us from St George's Catholic Primary School retrieved 13 August 2013

External links