Brompton Oratory
Brompton Oratory, also known as the London Oratory, is a Catholic parish church in the Brompton area of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London. Its name stems from the Oratorians, who live next door in the Oratory House and service the parish. The formal title of the church is the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Mass is celebrated daily by the Oratorians in both the Ordinary and Extraordinary forms.
The church was consecrated in 1884 and is built in the Neo-Baroque style and consists of a three-bay nave, transepts, and an apsed chancel with a dome over the crossing. It is listed at grade II* for its architectural significance.
Due to its location and character, the church attracts expatriate worshippers and visitors from many countries. After World War II, it temporarily hosted the parish of the Polish diaspora in London. The church has a reputation for the quality of its liturgical music and the notable musicians who perform there, among them the late Ralph Downes. There are [|three choirs] at the church. The London Oratory School in the nearby London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham is closely connected to the church, having been founded by the Oratorians.
Location
The church is on the A4 where it becomes Brompton Road, next to the Victoria and Albert Museum, where the street briefly becomes Thurloe Place and Cromwell Gardens but after that neighbouring museum the road becomes Cromwell Road which gradually widens via the Hammersmith Flyover into the M4. The A308 road starts opposite the building which takes up the name Brompton Road. It therefore marks an important junction.History
Foundation
Saint John Henry Newman was received into the Catholic Church in 1845. He went on to found the Birmingham Oratory, inspired by its patron, the Italian Saint Philip Neri. Other former Anglicans, including Frederick William Faber, briefly established a London Oratory in premises near Charing Cross. Faber's growing following of faithful purchased a property in November 1852 for £16,000, in the then rapidly developing suburb and former village of Brompton, later to become subsumed under the name South Kensington. This was the result from the closure of adjacent Brompton underground station and opening of the South Kensington tube station further west, to channel the crowds visiting the newly established museums. An Oratory House was built first, followed shortly by a temporary church. both designed by Joseph John Scoles. An appeal was then launched in 1874 to fund a church building. The new church was consecrated in 1884. Next to the Oratory House is a chapel, known as "the Little Oratory".The church still belongs to, and is served by, the Congregation of the London Oratory.
Modern day
After World War II, with the resettlement of thousands of Polish Allied servicemen 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.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.
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.
April 2018 saw the establishment of the Catholic Military Association, whose inaugural meeting was held in St Joseph's Hall.
Architecture
A design from Herbert Gribble, then 29, won a competition in March 1869. The foundation stone was laid in June 1869; and the new church was consecrated on 16 April 1884. The church is faced in Portland stone, with the vaults and dome in concrete; the latter was heightened in profile and the cupola added in 1869, standing tall. It was the largest Catholic church in London before the opening of Westminster Cathedral in 1903.The competition specified the "Italian Renaissance" style, but the Roman Baroque and Wren are also drawn on. Devon marble is used in the major order of pilasters and the minor order of columns, with more exotic marbles in the apse and the altars, with carvings in metalwork, plasterwork, wood and stone. It houses Italian Baroque sculpture: The Twelve Apostles by Giuseppe Mazzuoli acquired from Siena Cathedral in 1895 and the Lady Altar, with sculptures by Tommaso Rues. The architectonical structure of the altar, originally decorating a chapel dedicated to the rosary, was acquired from the church of San Domenico Brescia after its demolition in 1883. Gribble's decorative scheme for the apse was not proceeded with, but the decoration of the St Wilfrid and the St Mary Magdalene chapels do reflect his intentions. The St Philip Neri altar is to his design. Gribble's intended dome for the building was not built before his death, and in 1894 a new design by George Campbell Sherrin, with a lantern by his assistant E. A. Rickards, was chosen and built between 1895-1896. The second great decorative campaign was by the Italian architect C. T. G. Formilli, in mosaic, plaster and woodwork, the cost exceeding his estimate of £31,000. Further decoration marked the 1984 centenary. The reredos of Doric columns in yellow scagliola of the St Joseph chapel and a new altar and reredos of Cardinal Newman are by Russell Taylor. The statue of Newman in cardinal's robes is by Léon-Joseph Chavalliaud in an architectural setting by Thomas Gaming. The church boasts elaborate vestments and altar plate and houses a notable library.
Parish
The Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is a parish church, part of the Archdiocese of Westminster at whose request the parish is run by the priests of the oratory. It is part of the Kensington and Chelsea deanery.Events
The church has strong ties with the nearby London Oratory School, which has Mass at the church for certain Holy Days of Obligation and feastdays. The school's annual patronal festival in honour of St Philip Neri is celebrated at the oratory.In front of the statue of St Peter under the choir loft 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. The congregation is one of the largest Catholic congregations in London.
Liturgy
It is part of the tradition of the oratory in England to ensure that the liturgy is celebrated in a dignified and worthy manner. Mass is celebrated every day in Latin in the ordinary and the extraordinary forms of the Roman Rite.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.To serve the liturgy, the Oratory Fathers have fostered a notable musical establishment comprising three separate choirs plus a professional music staff.