Our Lady Immaculate and St Joseph Church is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

Prescot Prescot is a town and civil parish within the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley in Merseyside, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, it lies about to the east of Liverpool city centre. At the 2001 Census, the civ ...

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...

. It was built in 1856-57 by the

Society of Jesus , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

, and is now in the Knowsley deanery of the

Archdiocese of Liverpool The Catholic Archdiocese of Liverpool ( la, Archidioecesis Liverpolitana) is an archdiocese of the Catholic Church that covers the Isle of Man and part of North West England. The episcopal see is Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral. The archdiocese ...

. It is a Grade II listed building, designed by

Joseph Aloysius Hansom Joseph Aloysius Hansom (26 October 1803 – 29 June 1882) was a British architect working principally in the Gothic Revival style. He invented the Hansom cab and founded the eminent architectural journal, ''The Builder'', in 1843. Career H ...

, and is next to the Church of St Mary on Vicarage Place in the centre of Prescot.

History

Origin

From the

English Reformation The English Reformation took place in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away from the authority of the pope and the Catholic Church. These events were part of the wider European Protestant Reformation, a religious and poli ...

until 1857, the Catholic population of

had to travel to an area of the town called Portico, two miles from the town centre. From 1790, there was Our Lady Help of Christians Church. The Catholics were so numerous, that in 1583 the

Bishop of Chester The Bishop of Chester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chester in the Province of York. The diocese extends across most of the historic county boundaries of Cheshire, including the Wirral Peninsula and has its see in the C ...

William Chaderton William Chaderton (c.1540 – 11 April 1608) was an English academic and bishop. He also served as Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity. He was born in Moston, Lancashire, what is now a part of the city of Manchester. After attending ...

, wrote to the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

Truly the Papists in these parts are lately growing so stubborn and contemptuous that in my opinion it were very requisite that their Lordships did write a very earnest letter to my good Lord the Earl of Derby, myself, and the rest of Her Majesty's Commissioners ... to deal seriously and roundly with them (the Papists of Prescot) otherwise there can be no reformation.

Construction

In 1856, six years after the

restoration of the English Catholic hierarchy was a papal bull of 29 September 1850 by which Pope Pius IX recreated the Roman Catholic diocesan hierarchy in England, which had been extinguished with the death of the last Marian bishop in the reign of Elizabeth I. New names were given to ...

and the creation of the

, the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

founded a church in the centre of Prescot and asked

to design it for them. He also designed Church of St. Walburge in Preston, St Joseph's Church in

Leigh Leigh may refer to: Places In England Pronounced : * Leigh, Greater Manchester, Borough of Wigan ** Leigh (UK Parliament constituency) * Leigh-on-Sea, Essex Pronounced : * Leigh, Dorset * Leigh, Gloucestershire * Leigh, Kent * Leigh, Staf ...

St Beuno's Ignatian Spirituality Centre St Beuno's Jesuit Spirituality Centre, known locally as St Beuno's College, is a spirituality and retreat centre in Tremeirchion, Denbighshire, Wales. It was built in 1847 by the Jesuits, as a theology college. During the 1870s the Victorian poet Ge ...

Tremeirchion Tremeirchion (previously known as ''Lleweni'') is a small residential community in Denbighshire, Wales. It lies on the B5429 road, to the north east of Denbigh and to the east of St Asaph. The community includes the village of Rhuallt. The tow ...

and the Church of the Holy Name of Jesus in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

for the Jesuits. The building was opened for worship a year later.

Handover

On 28 September 1932, the church was taken into the care of the

. At the time, many churches served by the Jesuits were being given to their respective dioceses. Within the same year both Holy Cross Church in

St Helens, Merseyside St Helens () is a town in Merseyside, England, with a population of 102,629. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, which had a population of 176,843 at the United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 Census. St Helens i ...

and St John's Church in

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...

were handed over to the archdiocese.

Parish

The church has a Mass at 6:00pm on Saturday evening for Sunday and another Mass at 11:00am Sunday morning. There are weekday Masses at 12.00pm on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Both the Our Lady of Help of Christians and Our Lady Immaculate and St Joseph churches have a relationship with Our Lady's Primary School in Prescot, whose mission statement states ' What we hoped to achieve in all that we do is as a living community of God'.About us
from OurLadysPrescot.com retrieved 11 March 2014

Gallery

File:Church of Our Lady Immaculate and St Joseph, Prescot.JPG, Doorway File:Entrance statue of Church of Our Lady Immaculate and St Joseph, Prescot.JPG, Statue above doorway

References

External links

Our Lady Immaculate & St Joseph Catholic Church

Our Lady's Catholic Primary School site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Our Lady Immaculate and Saint Joseph Church, Prescot Grade II listed churches in Merseyside Roman Catholic churches in Merseyside Grade II listed Roman Catholic churches in England Buildings and structures in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley Roman Catholic churches completed in 1857 Gothic Revival church buildings in England Gothic Revival architecture in Merseyside 1857 establishments in England 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom