There’ll Always Be a Catholic England

Manchester, England

England is famous for its glorious medieval churches, their spires soaring above villages or making landmarks in the great cities. But of course these churches are not Catholic and, although they have been cherished and loved in recent centuries, they have not been homes for the Blessed Sacrament — or seen the Mass celebrated within their walls for more than 400 years.

With the Catholic revival of the 19th century, and the ending of the cruel laws against Catholics that had begun with the break with Rome in the reign of Henry VIII, a great new wave of church building began.

The Catholic Church of the Holy Name of Jesus in the northern city of Manchester is a powerful and evocative symbol of that revival. In recent years it has seen something of a special revival of its own.

The church has a medieval feel to it, thanks to its soaring arches in 14th-century Gothic style, great high altar and alabaster baptismal font.

But it was built in 1871; its architect belongs very firmly to the Victorian period. He was Joseph Hansom, designer of the famous Hansom cab, the horse-drawn carriage that was a great feature of Britain’s cities in the late 1800s.

This church was built for the Jesuits, who in the 19th century were busy in many of Europe’s great cities and sought to have a large presence where they could carry out their parish ministry and draw many to Christ through their preaching, their work in the confessional and their ministry to the young.

Intentionally Imposing

The church was designed to be imposing, to make a statement about the Catholic faith that expressed great hope and confidence. It sprawls 186 feet from east to west. Around the high altar, stained-glass windows depict Jesuit saints. You can pick out Ignatius Loyola, founder of the order, along with St. Peter Claver, who worked among slaves, and the great missionary St. Francis Xavier.

In the 19th century, Manchester was a great industrial center, a rapidly growing city with many immigrants arriving from Ireland, and a place of political and commercial importance with buildings that reflected this status.

Holy Name Church became a city landmark as large numbers came for Mass. They heard preachers who used the great pulpit with its mosaic panels depicting famous English martyrs such as John Fisher, Thomas More and Edmund Campion — heroes of the faith in the 16th century who would be canonized during the 20th. There were famous names associated with the church, such as Jesuit Father Bernard Vaughan, rector in the 1880s. He was the brother of Cardinal Herbert Vaughan, archbishop of Westminster.

The parish thrived throughout the first decades of the 20th century, too. But the great changes of the 1960s and ’70s brought a different scene. By the 1990s, it looked as though the Holy Name Church would have to close. Mass attendance across the city was down, as everywhere in Britain, and the number of priests fell precipitously. While the reasons for all this were hotly debated, the reality of keeping up the immense building (a tower was added in the 1920s with a chime of bells) remained.

Students of the Faith

A campaign to save the church attracted much support. Today it remains open and, under a community of priests living by the rule of St. Philip Neri, it is again thriving. Its 11 a.m. Sunday Mass, sung and in Latin, attracts capacity crowds of mostly young people: The church stands right in the heart of what is now the university district of the city.

Throughout the day, beautiful chimes ring out, summoning people to pray the Angelus or come to Mass. A new mechanism was installed in 1995 with some 20 different hymn tunes. Substantial funds from official sources have been made available as the building is recognized as a significant national landmark.

This is a church not to be missed by any visitor to Manchester. It contains a shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes, along with chapels dedicated to the Sacred Heart, St. Joseph and the Holy Souls. A statue of St. Peter is a half-scale copy of the one in St. Peter’s Square in Rome. Great war memorials bear the names of the many who worshipped here and lost their lives in the two wars of the 20th century. Above them is a memorial window, recently restored to its original freshness.

The story of Holy Name church is an inspiring one. Today young Catholics flock to hear the Gospel and to discover, through the drama of the liturgy, the presence of Christ in the way that the original Jesuit builders sought. There is a sense of continuity and purpose. The building is rarely empty; good numbers come to weekday Mass and many also drop in to pray during the day.

A new chapter has opened in the life of a building that is a great witness to faith and hope.

Joanna Bogle writes

from London.


Church of the Holy Name of Jesus

Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PG, England

holyname.co.uk

Planning Your Visit

The Blessed Sacrament is exposed for adoration weekdays at lunchtime. The devotion is popular with people who work in this busy part of Manchester and with students from the nearby university. Confessions are also heard at lunchtime, starting at noon.