Oxford Churches, England

Oxford is a university town with many different colleges (36 in all) where most of the churches are located. The cathedral in Oxford is part of Christ Church College. Like most colleges in Oxford, it's a bit of a gated community, with strict times when tourists can come in and look around. Also, they charge a fee for tourists to come in and look around. We didn't think it was worth it, so we only saw the gate and the gardens.

Christ Church College gate

The gardens have a peek at the cathedral

On High Street is the parish church for Oxford, St. Mary the Virgin, which is normally open to visitors and free of charge. Parts of the church date back to the 1200s though there have been many renovations in subsequent centuries. Sadly, we visited in 2012 when the church was undergoing more renovations and could see very little inside.

St. Mary the Virgin entrance

The nave as seen from just inside the door

Cool tree outside St. Mary's (fenced off and with its own support!)

We were visiting over a weekend and went to the Oxford Oratory dedicated to St. Aloysius. It was built in 1875 and originally was served by Jesuit priests. Now the Oratorians (founded by John Henry Cardinal Newman) serve the church and have a thriving community.

Oxford Oratory

We didn't tour much inside since the children were dying for a snack. Maybe we'll get to go back someday.

The Birmingham Oratory Church, England

St. Philip Neri founded the Oratory in Rome during the 1550s. He gathered a small group who met informally to pray, discuss, and read spiritual works. Neri was able to blend religion and recreation. He also had a great sense of humor, which drew followers and admirers for centuries afterwards.

One such admirer was John Henry Newman, a leading figure of the Oxford Movement. The Oxford Movement was a revival of spiritual life in the Anglican Church. Newman's study of the Church Fathers made him conclude that the Roman Catholic Church is the true church of Jesus Christ. He struggled to convert, eventually going to Rome where he was ordained a Catholic priest in 1847. He discovered the Oratorians in Rome and decided to bring the Oratory to England. He founded the first English Oratorian church in Birmingham in 1848; a year later, he opened another in London.

The Oratory in Birmingham moved from location to location several times, settling on Hagley Road. The current church was built from 1903 to 1920, the year it was solemnly consecrated. The church is rather unassuming as seen from the street but is splendid inside.

View from the parking lot

The church's main entrance

The cloister by the main entrance

The nave is ornate with a great ceiling featuring various coats of arms.

Nave

Nave ceiling

The baptismal font dates from 1912 and has a marble base with a bronze canopy topped by a figure of John the Baptist.

Baptismal font

The Holy Souls altar commemorates those who died in World War I. The mosaic above depicts Our Lady of Sorrows at the moment of Christ's entombment.

Mosaic and cross of the Holy Souls Altar

Another side altar is dedicated to St. Athanasius, a favorite of Newman's. The coffin under the altar contains the body of St. Valentine, given to Newman by Pope Pius IX in 1847.

St. Athanasius Altar

Our Lady's altar has a fantastic statue of the Madonna and Child, copied from Notre Dame des Victories in Paris.

Our Lady's Altar

Our Lady's statue

The St. Anne's Altar depicts the presentation of Mary in the Temple as a child. The altarpiece shows Mary and her mother Anne and was painted by Benedictine nuns.

St. Anne's Altar

The sanctuary has a fantastic main altar. The tabernacle is designed in imitation of the one in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel at St. Peter's in Rome. The mosaic above the altar shows the Coronation of Our Lady. She is surrounded by Newman's patron saints, John the Baptist and John the Evangelist.

Main altar

Closer view of the altar

Mosaic and baldacchino

The dome above the main altar is also impressive, showing the four major prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel).

Dome

Other interesting decoration include a nun over one of the exits and a ceramic panel outside depicting St. Philip Neri and the Seven Children (representing his love for education young people; he loved animals too, so they are represented on the sides and top).

Exit lintel

Close up of the nun

Philip Neri and the Seven Children

Brompton Oratory, London

The Brompton Oratory was founded by John Henry Newman (later Cardinal Newman, now Blessed Newman). He was a leading figure in the 19th century English Catholic revival and established a community of priests at the Oratory. The church first opened its doors in 1884 but the dome and facade were not completed until the 1890s.

Brompton Oratory, London

Like many famous churches in London, photography is not allowed inside (see the on-line church tour here). Of course, we got something so much better since we attended Sunday Mass there. In addition to the excellent music from a boys' choir and an intelligent (though very brief) sermon, we received Jesus in the Eucharist.

The interior is extremely ornate, including 12 larger-than-life statues of the Apostles that came from Siena Cathedral. Many other decorations were donated by churches on the continent or modeled after Roman decorations. The final external work was the Newman Memorial which went up in 1896, six years after Newman's death.

Newman Memorial

Who was John Henry Cardinal Newman?
Born in London in 1801, John Henry Newman grew up in the Church of England. In his teens, he decided to dedicate his life to holiness. In the 1820s he went to Oxford and became an Anglican priest. He became a leading figure in the Oxford Movement which sought to restore more Catholicity to the Anglican Church. In 1843 he left his Oxford post and, with a small group of followers, lived a life of prayer and reflection in a converted stable block just outside of Oxford. An Italian Catholic priest came in 1845 and received Newman into the Roman Catholic Church. Newman went to Rome to study for the priesthood and was ordained in 1847. He returned to England and established the first English Oratory in Birmingham. He sent a fellow convert to establish Brompton Oratory in May 1849. Newman continued to write and was made a cardinal in 1879 by Pope Leo XIII. He lived for the rest of his life at the Brompton Oratory. His funeral procession drew a crowd of 15-20,000 people. He is currently in the process of being declared a saint.