I mentioned the pleasant surprise that I had when I found out that this Church was the Catholic Church for central Bath. It is dedicated to St John the Evangelist. Below, you can see that the interior of the Church has not been ruined in any way by wreckovation:
There is a small wooden forward-facing altar and a sort of lectern that pokes through the screen but they could both easily be removed when the reform of the reform gathers pace. The fine pulpit is intact. The modern, unobtrusive microphone, indicates that it is still in use.
The Lady Chapel has its own screen.
The Church was founded by the Benedictines in 1861, hence there is this fine altar in honour of St Benedict at North wall.
I was very taken by this statue but I have to confess that I do not know who it is. Can anyone help?
At the back of the Church is this inscription:
English translation:To God the greatest and best.By the mercy of the Lord and with the applause of the people, it was not "renewed" again sometime in the mid 1970s. Deo gratias!
When Pius XII was happily reigning,
Joseph Rudderham was bishop,
and Canon Patrick Hackett was Rector;
this sacred building, having been damamged by hostile incursion in 1942,
by the mercy of the Lord, and with the people applauding,
was renewed in the year 1953.
And here is the photo I took with the advice of the bird-watcher. The falcon that you can see is, apparently, the female one. The twigs above are part of their nest. The male one was scratching around up there but I can't make it out in the photo.
9 comments:
I'll go out on a limb here... it's a Pope :c). What is that at the base of the statue? Is it part of an anchor? And what's under his arm, as it may help to identify him; is it a bible? It looks like a book of sorts.
My first thought was that it’s Pope St. Gregory the Great. Why? It’s obviously a Pope; the church was founded by Benedictines and so it would be usual to have statues of Benedictine Saints, and Gregory was a Benedictine Monk, the first to be raised to the Throne of Peter. He was also responsible for sending missionaries to England; another reason for promoting devotion to him here. Perhaps the book is his Dialogues or the Sacramentary attributed to him? The only problem I have with this theory is that, St. Gregory is usually depicted with the Holy Spirit on his shoulder. I have found several pictures of St. Gregory on the internet, and like the statue, they have the Tiara, the Patriarchal Cross and the book, but they also have the Holy Spirit. If I remember correctly, I think that there is a statue of St. Gregory in the church of Our Lady of the Assumption, Warwick Street. Perhaps if anyone’s near there they could pop in to see if it bears any resemblance to this statue? Oh, and isn’t there one in Farm Street?
The other candidate is St. Pius V, and that’s only because of the beard :c).
Forgot to ask. Father, what's in the statue's left hand? Is it a quill pen?
Speaking of St. Gregory, whilst looking for his picture, I came upon this site ~ enjoy :c).
http://www.saintgregorys.org/Liturgy/Photos/10am/Thanksgiving.html
Yes, I think it is an anchor at the bottom. But I'm sure someone from Bath will put us out of our misery soon :-)
(That St Gregory's Church looks quite mad.)
The microphone at the pulpit is so unobtrusive that I can't see it!
It does look glorious. You said it was a Benedictine church - presumably founded from Downside?
The Douai Benedictines run St. Anne's in Ormskirk in Lancs. That's also a lovely church, at least that I remember.
Anyhow, lovely photos! Thanks for sharing them with us.
Yes, the microphone is one of those thin stick ones - I think it is in the shadow next to the pillar in the photo. Fr Bill told me about the foundation and I think he said Downside but I couldn't be sure I remembered correctly hence the non-specific mention :-)
My wife and I went to Msss there a year or two ago. Sung in plainchant with, from memory, Credo I. It's a lovely Church.
I believe Pope St. Clement was martyred by being tied to an anchor and thrown into the sea.
...left a comment earlier on but my computer has been crashing and I wonder if it got through. I think its Nicholas Breakspear - Pope Adrian lV - his father I think was from Bath and that's a Papal Cross isn't it?
Aha! I'm sure you are right. Many thanks, Sister.
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