William Wilkinson Wardell (1824-1899) was a friend and student of A.W.N. Pugin and a convert from Anglicanism in 1843. In 1858 he emigrated to Australia, where he built such notable churches as St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney and St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne. However, before he left for the Antipodes, he built some 30 churches in England.
This activity came shortly after the Catholic Emancipation Act (1829), which restored the Catholic Hierarchy of England and Wales and made possible the public worship of Catholics. This obviously led to a revival of Catholic England and a spate of church building. One such building - among the first Catholic churches to be built after the Reformation - was the church of St Birinus in Dorchester-on-Thames in Oxfordshire. As with so many of these early churches, it was sited in a historically important town: in 634 Pope Honorius I had sent bishop Birinus to preach the Gospel in these parts and he evangelised King Cynegils of Wessex and established his see at Dorchester. After his canonisation, his shrine formed the centre of the Augustianian abbey of Ss Peter and Paul in Dorchester.
Waddell's church was begun in 1846 and completed three years later. It is a small chapel in a prominent position, a stone's throw from the abbey and by the bridge that fords the river Thames in which St Birinus had baptised thousands. The church is an almost exact replica of a 14th-century Gothic chapel. It is constructed of Littlemore stone with a Caen stone porch and the interior is just one rectangular nave with a smaller chancel in the east end.
Under it's current parish priest, Fr John Osman - who is a former chaplain to Cambridge University - the church has been splendidly restored and his conviction that beauty attracts people to Christ has led to a liturgical movement of sorts in his small parish. He has put in place an 'English altar' with four riddel posts surmounted by gilt angels and decked with beautiful altar falls. He has also replaced the piscina and sedilia, restored the confessional and installed a charming little Rood Screen. The Rood is currently being restored and then the screen will be polychromed and bedecked with heraldry and finally completed with a houseling cloth. Fr Osman also has plans to restore the chancel roof, install a Tester over the altar and a replica of a 14th-century statue of Our Lady is being carved in Spain for her shrine at the back of the church. He has also invited the Schola Gregoriana of Cambridge to sing during the Easter Triduum and invited Professor Eamon Duffy to talk about the Rood screen when it is complete.
This beautiful church with its inspiring parish priest is a gem - it was first described as such by Bishop Ullathorne - and it may well be the seed of a new liturgical movement. If so, this is an amply fitting site, as it is in the vicinity of Newman's Oxford and the cradle of Christianity in this region.
For more photos of St Birinus', click here. Or to see the medieval splendours of Dorchester Abbey, click here.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
A Liturgical Gem in Oxfordshire
Lawrence Lew OPMore recent articles:
The Feast of St Vincent FerrerGregory DiPippo
The feast of St Vincent Ferrer was traditionally assigned to the day of his death, April 5th, but I say “assigned to” instead of “kept on” advisedly; that date falls within either Holy Week or Easter week so often that its was either translated or omitted more than it was celebrated on its proper day. [1] For this reason, in 2001 the Dominicans mov...
Good Shepherd Sunday 2025Gregory DiPippo
Dearest brethren, Christ suffered for us, leaving you an example that you should follow His steps; Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth; Who, when He was reviled, did not revile. When He suffered, he threatened not, but delivered Himself to him that judged Him unjustly; Who His own self bore our sins in His body upon the tree: that...
The Gospel of Nicodemus in the Liturgy of EastertideGregory DiPippo
By “the Gospel of Nicodemus”, I mean not the apocryphal gospel of that title, but the passage of St John’s Gospel in which Christ speaks to Nicodemus, chapter 3, verses 1-21. This passage has an interesting and complex history among the readings of the Easter season. For liturgical use, the Roman Rite divides it into two parts, the second of which...
“The Angel Cried Out” - The Byzantine Easter Hymn to the Virgin MaryGregory DiPippo
In the Byzantine Divine Liturgy, there are several places where the priest sings a part of the anaphora out loud, and the choir makes a response, while he continues the anaphora silently. In the liturgy of St John Chrysostom, which is by far the more commonly used of the two anaphoras, the priest commemorates the Saints after the consecration and ...
The LavaboMichael P. Foley
Lost in Translation #124 After the incensation, the priest goes to the Epistle side and washes his hands, reciting Psalm 25, 6-12: Lavábo inter innocentes manus meas: et circúmdabo altáre tuum, Dómine.Ut audiam vocem laudis: et enarrem universa mirabilia tua.Dómine, dilexi decórem domus tuae: et locum habitatiónis gloriae tuae.Ne perdas cum impii...
Spinello Aretino’s Altar of Ss Philip and JamesGregory DiPippo
At the very end of the 14th century, the painter Spinello di Luca Spinelli (1350 ca. - 1410 ca.), usually known as Spinello Aretino (from Arezzo) was commissioned to make a frescoed altarpiece for the Dominican church of his native city. The altar itself no longer exists; it was dedicated to the Apostles Philip and James, whose feast is traditional...
A Medieval Hymn for EastertideGregory DiPippo
Many medieval breviaries, including those of the Sarum Use, the Cistercians, Carmelites and Premonstratensians, have a hymn for the Easter season which is not found in the Roman Breviary, Chorus novae Jerusalem by St Fulbert, bishop of Chartres, who died in 1029. The original version of the Latin text, and the English translation of John Maso...
Two Upcoming Events from the Durandus InstituteGregory DiPippo
Our friend James Griffin of The Durandus Institute for Sacred Liturgy and Music wishes all our readers a joyous Easter season, by presenting two opportunities, at least for those in southeast Pennsylvania, to celebrate.First, this coming Sunday at 5pm, there will be a solemn Vespers in the traditional Latin rite for the Second Sunday after Easter a...
Letter to a Maximalist Music Director in a Minimalist WorldPeter Kwasniewski
Auguste Danse, Study of Three Singers (detail)The following is based on a real letter.Dear Friend,I’m sorry to hear that you’re experiencing some “ups and downs” with regard to the liturgy there, though it’s hardly surprising in a way. Your diocese is not well known for liturgical propriety or taste, and, beyond that, priests mostly have control ov...
The Tomb of St Peter Martyr in Milan’s Portinari ChapelGregory DiPippo
Here are some great photos from our Ambrosian correspondent Nicola de’ Grandi of the Portinari Chapel at the Basilica of St Eustorgio in Milan. They were taken during a special night-time opening made possible by a new lighting system; as one might well imagine, the Italians are extraordinarily good at this sort of thing, and more and more museum...