Church of the Holy Name of Jesus, Manchester

The Church of the Holy Name of Jesus is located on Oxford Road in the heart of Manchester University's campus

Campus

A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls and park-like settings...

in Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

and next door to the University hospitals. It was built between 1869 and 1871 and designed by Joseph A. Hansom & Son

Joseph Stanislaus Hansom

Joseph Stanislaus Hansom, FRIBA was a British architect. He was the son and partner of the better known Joseph Aloysius Hansom, inventor of the Hansom cab. He trained with his father, becoming his partner in 1869 and taking over the family practice fully in 1880.He was among the founders of the...

. The present tower, designed by Gilbert Scott

Gilbert Scott

Gilbert Scott may refer to several of a family of British architects:* Sir George Gilbert Scott , who was principally known for his architectural designs for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and St Pancras Station...

, was erected in 1928 in memory of the famous Rector of the church, Fr Bernard Vaughan, SJ. The building is a Grade I listed building, and was granted this on 5 April 1989, being upgraded from a Grade II* listed building, which was granted on 18 December 1963.

The Jesuits

In 1860, the first bishop of the Diocese of Salford

Diocese of Salford

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Salford is a Latin Rite Roman Catholic diocese centred around Salford Cathedral in the City of Salford in Greater Manchester, England....

, Bishop Turner, invited the Jesuits to make a home at Manchester, in Chorlton-on-Medlock, which was an important middle class suburb. As well as the growing middle-classes, Manchester was home to a large and expanding population of Irish Immigrants, lured by cotton manufacturing and the consequences of the Great Irish Famine. In the area known as Little Ireland (a stretch of low grade amenity terraces built to serve the urban poor in the centre of the city), perceived un-godliness was a growing trend. The Parish of St Mary's

The Hidden Gem

The Hidden Gem, or formally, St Mary’s Roman Catholic Church, is located on Mulberry Street in Manchester, England. It was first dedicated at the site in 1794 with devotion to St Mary, Our Lady of the Assumption. In 1835, the roof collapsed, was restored and now The Hidden Gem remains the oldest...

, Mulberry Street was unable to cope; in the previous 20 years, 13 priests had succumbed to Typhus

Typhus

Epidemic typhus is a form of typhus so named because the disease often causes epidemics following wars and natural disasters...

, whilst working amongst the city's poor.

The Jesuits had a formidable record of outreach and missionary

Missionary

A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...

work, and this was put to good use. They were also used in answering the controversial claims of the Church of England to be the successor of St Augustine. Whilst at the Holy Name Fr Vaughan took part in a famous series of debates with the Anglican bishop of Manchester, over the rival claims of both parties to be the Catholic Church in England. In their jubilation at Vaughan's triumph, the young men of the Holy Name pulled his carriage from the city centre all the way to the church.

The Building

Bishop Turner was keen to have a church in the up-and-coming area of Chorlton-on-Medlock staffed with priests who could meet the demands of intellectual, apologetic and controversial needs of Manchester. The Jesuits from St Helens came to settle here, at first in a temporary church (now the site of the Holy Name Hall, which has since been sold). As well as this intellectual need, the Holy Name was made a parish church to meet the growing populations of the neighbouring parishes of Longsight

Longsight

Longsight is an area of Manchester, England, about south of the city centre. Its population is about 16,000.-History:Longsight has been known over the past for its gang related violence, similar to that of nearby Moss Side. Most of the violence came from tensions between 2 gangs; The Longsight...

and Chorlton-on-Medlock

Chorlton-on-Medlock

Chorlton-on-Medlock is an inner city area of Manchester, England.Historically a part of Lancashire, the northern border of Chorlton-on-Medlock is the River Medlock which runs immediately south of Manchester city centre. Its other borders roughly correspond to Stockport Road, Hathersage Road, Moss...

, as the large villas were replaced by streets as the population of industrial Manchester grew. The construction of the building re-inforced the power of the Jesuit order and the revived confidence of the English Catholics (it is the largest church in Manchester, and dominates the surrounding area).

The building's dimensions and proportions are on the scale of a fourteenth century cathedral

Cathedral

A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...

; it is 186 feet long east to west and 112 feet wide. The architect Joseph Aloysius Hansom (who gave his name to the Hansom Cab

Hansom cab

The hansom cab is a kind of horse-drawn cart designed and patented in 1834 by Joseph Hansom, an architect from York. The vehicle was developed and tested by Hansom in Hinckley, Leicestershire, England. Originally called the Hansom safety cab, it was designed to combine speed with safety, with a low...

) based the building on Frankish gothic

Gothic architecture

Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....

styles of France. Pevsner

Pevsner

Pevsner is a surname, and may refer to:* Antoine Pevsner , a Russian sculptor* Sir Nikolaus Pevsner , a German-born British scholar of the history of architecture;** ....

described it as " ... a design of the very highest quality and of an originality nowhere demonstrative ... Hansom never again did so marvellous a church." Although mediaeval in appearance, it is a counter-Reformation church, designed to teach the faith through its external liturgical and devotional manifestation. It gives maximum exposure to the solemn celebration of the Mass (a raised altar near the congregation with no rood screen, and a shallow, broad sanctuary), the cult of the Eucharist (the eye is first carried to the tabernacle and the expositon throne above), preaching (a large pulpit to place the preacher intimately in the congregation), and the hearing of confessions (the whole north side is taken up with confessionals designed for long hours of priestly ministration). Consequently, the pillars in the church are unusually slender, accomplished by making the roof of the church from hollow terracotta tubes.

Although built in brick it was clad in brushed Warwick stone. It has been suggested that Hansom's original design originally called for a broad steeple 73 feet high (although how seriously this was considered is disputed). In 1928 the tower was built, designed by Giles Gilbert Scott

Giles Gilbert Scott

Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, OM, FRIBA was an English architect known for his work on such buildings as Liverpool Cathedral and Battersea Power Station and designing the iconic red telephone box....

, and is similar to his tower at the Anglican cathedral at Liverpool and his iconic red telephone box

Red telephone box

The red telephone box, a public telephone kiosk designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, is a familiar sight on the streets of the United Kingdom, Malta, Bermuda and Gibraltar, and despite a reduction in their numbers in recent years, red boxes can still be seen in many places and in current or former...

. The church structure itself is sixty years older than the tower, and the stonework doesn't match, one part looking much fresher than the other (which is the result of recent cleaning and pointing work to the body of the church).

In total, the nave can accommodate 800 worshippers. Small chapels adorn the left hand side, along with the baptistery towards the west. On the north side of the building are confessionals, each with its own fireplace. Between each of the confessions and the chapels are the Stations of the Cross

Stations of the Cross

Stations of the Cross refers to the depiction of the final hours of Jesus, and the devotion commemorating the Passion. The tradition as chapel devotion began with St...

. Throughout the church there are devotional statues and images, always with candles burning before them.

Liturgy

The Masses at the Holy Name are celebrated in English and towards the east ('ad orientem' - the priest and people all facing the rising sun, offering their prayers as a pilgrim people). The 1962 version of the Tridentine Mass

Tridentine Mass

The Tridentine Mass is the form of the Roman Rite Mass contained in the typical editions of the Roman Missal that were published from 1570 to 1962. It was the most widely celebrated Mass liturgy in the world until the introduction of the Mass of Paul VI in December 1969...

, now an extraordinary form of the Roman Rite

Extraordinary form of the Roman Rite

"An extraordinary form of the Roman Rite" is a phrase used in Pope Benedict XVI's motu proprio Summorum Pontificum to describe the liturgy of the 1962 Roman Missal, widely referred to as the "Tridentine Mass"...

, is celebrated at the Holy Name on Sunday afternoons.

At the Holy Name both Latin and English are used for the celebration of Mass. In the years following the Second Vatican Council

Second Vatican Council

The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...

, it became the almost universal fashion for Mass to be said in the vernacular

Vernacular

A vernacular is the native language or native dialect of a specific population, as opposed to a language of wider communication that is not native to the population, such as a national language or lingua franca.- Etymology :The term is not a recent one...

tongue at the exclusion of Latin, with the priest and congregation facing one another rather than in the same direction towards the crucifix. This celebration was often accompanied by 'folk music'. Nevertheless, Latin remains the official language of the Roman Rite

Roman Rite

The Roman Rite is the liturgical rite used in the Diocese of Rome in the Catholic Church. It is by far the most widespread of the Latin liturgical rites used within the Western or Latin autonomous particular Church, the particular Church that itself is also called the Latin Rite, and that is one of...

, and the typical editions of all liturgical book

Liturgical book

A liturgical book is a book published by the authority of a church, that contains the text and directions for the liturgy of its official religious services.-Roman Catholic:...

s are to this day released in Latin. Both Latin and the ad orientem posture are permitted in the Novus Ordo and are practiced at the Holy Name. These celebrations of the liturgy are very well attended, despite the church not being a parish (the church forming a distinct part of the parish of St. Augustine, Chorlton-on-Medlock

Chorlton-on-Medlock

).

The celebration of the liturgy is designed to be catechetical and attractive, with solemn ritual, beautiful music, popular hymns and a familiar preaching style. It is also user-friendly; given the solemnity of the celebration, still the Solemn Mass never lasts more than an hour.

Weekday Masses are designed to suit the work patterns of the busy city population - 7am and 5.15pm. They are celebrated at the small and more intimate chapels in the church.

Each lunch time there is exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and Benediction, during which confessions are heard. They are also heard from 4.45pm - 5.05pm before the weekday evening Mass, and on Saturday 11.30am - 12.30pm, 3pm - 4pm, 7pm - 8pm.

Music

The organ of the church is located at the West end of the nave. Built in 1871 by William Hill & Son of London, it has forty-eight speaking stops over three-manuals and pedals. The instrument was restored in 2004 and continues to be maintained by David Wells

David Wells

David Lee Wells , nicknamed "Boomer", is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. Wells was considered to be one of the game's better left-handed pitchers, especially during his years with the New York Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays. He pitched the fifteenth perfect game in baseball history...

of Liverpool. The lead pipes on the front of the case are ornately diapered

Diapering

Diaper is any of a wide range of decorative patterns used in a variety of works of art, such as stained glass, heraldic shields, architecture, silverwork etc. Its chief use is in the enlivening of plain surfaces.-Etymology:...

. Above the organ and choir loft are two gilded angels. The organ pipes were recently restored to their original colour scheme, lighter shades of red and green with gold motifs (similar colours were to be found in the sanctuary of the church and are due to be restored).

The music for the Solemn Mass follows the recent decrees of the Vatican, and utilises Gregorian chant and polyphony on Sundays (with well known congregational English hymns), and for major solemnities there are classical organ and orchestral settings from the 17th - 21st centuries.

Jesuit departure and Secular Priestly Community arrival

The Jesuits had intended to sell the church (as they did the hall and presbytery) and gave up the parish in 1985. The church was in need of significant and expensive repair, the congregation had dwindled with local shifts in housing and demographics (university and hospital expansion as well as slum clearance), and the church building was closed for most of the day. The diocese did not want it, and so the major superiors of England and Wales were asked to consider its viability. As a consequence, a community of secular Priests and Lay Brothers (an Oratory of St Philip in Formation) came to Manchester in 1992. Since then the church has been in the process of massive renovation project. It is now open every day from early morning until evening, and the congregational numbers have increased.

The Smiths

Manchester popular music band The Smiths

The Smiths

The Smiths were an English alternative rock band, formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the song writing partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...

referred to the Holy Name church in one of the lyrics in Vicar in a Tutu, "I was minding my business lifting some lead off the roof of The Holy Name church".

The Jesuits

The Building

Liturgy

Music

Jesuit departure and Secular Priestly Community arrival

The Smiths

See also