Our Lady of Perpetual Succour Church or Our Lady's 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, ...

Great Billing Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great (born ...

, Northamptonshire, England. It was built in 1878 and founded by the descendants of John Elwes at

Billing Hall Billing Hall was a manor house in Billing, Northamptonshire, England. Records of the manor, the predecessor to Great Billing Hall, date back to the 12th century. It was originally owned by the Barry family and Baron Dundalk built it in 1629. I ...

in the

Romanesque Revival style Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...

. It is located on the High Street in Billing. Since 2006, it has been the

Diocesan In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

Shrine A shrine ( la, scrinium "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred or holy sacred space, space dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor worship, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, Daemon (mythology), daem ...

Our Lady of Perpetual Succour Our Lady of Perpetual Help (also known as Our Lady of Perpetual Succour) is a Roman Catholic Titles of Mary, title of the Blessed Virgin Mary associated with a 15th-century Byzantine art, Byzantine icon with an alleged Marian apparition. Th ...

History

Foundation

In 1795, Robert Cary Elwes, a family member of John Elwes, bought

. In 1866, his grandson, Valentine Cary Elwes inherited the hall. He was the father of

Gervase Elwes Gervase Henry Cary-Elwes, DL (15 November 1866 – 12 January 1921), better known as Gervase Elwes, was an English tenor of great distinction, who exercised a powerful influence over the development of English music from the early 1900s up un ...

and

Dudley Cary-Elwes Dudley Charles Cary-Elwes (5 February 1868 – 1 May 1932) was Roman Catholic prelate who served as the Bishop of Northampton from 1921 to 1932. Born in Nice, France on 5 February 1868 to Valentine Dudley Henry Cary Elwes & his second wife Alice Ge ...

, who was later the Catholic

Bishop of Northampton The Bishop of Northampton is the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Northampton in the Province of Westminster, England. The see is in the town of Northampton where the bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral Church of Our Lady and Sai ...

. In 1874, the family converted to

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. Shortly afterwards, a

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

was built in Billing Hall.

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked wit ...

Greta Billing - Our Lady of Perpetual Succour
''Taking Stock'', retrieved 18 May 2022

Construction

In 1878, Our Lady of Perpetual Help was built. It replaced the chapel in the hall and was paid for by Valentine Cary Elwes. It was built in the

and has a handcrafted copy of the icon of

Our Lady of Perpetual Help Our Lady of Perpetual Help (also known as Our Lady of Perpetual Succour) is a Roman Catholic title of the Blessed Virgin Mary associated with a 15th-century Byzantine icon with an alleged Marian apparition. The icon is believed to have ori ...

installed above the altar. In 1926, the

aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parl ...

s were added. In 1994, an

aedicula In ancient Roman religion, an ''aedicula'' (plural ''aediculae'') is a small shrine, and in classical architecture refers to a niche covered by a pediment or entablature supported by a pair of columns and typically framing a statue,"aedicula, n." ...

was added to the

Lady Chapel A Lady chapel or lady chapel is a traditional British term for a chapel dedicated to "Our Lady", Mary, mother of Jesus, particularly those inside a cathedral or other large church. The chapels are also known as a Mary chapel or a Marian chapel, an ...

. It was built by Ormsby of Scarisbrick who also did work on Our Lady of Sorrows Church in

Bognor Regis Bognor Regis (), sometimes simply known as Bognor (), is a town and seaside resort in West Sussex on the south coast of England, south-west of London, west of Brighton, south-east of Chichester and east of Portsmouth. Other nearby towns ...

. On 8 September 2006, Peter Doyle the

made the church the Diocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour. Buried in the church cemetery are Valentine Cary Elwes,

, Bishop Dudley Cary-Elwes and Gervase's son and parish priest of Our Lady's Church, Monsignor Valentine Elwes.Our History
from SacredHeartNorthampton.org.uk, retrieved 18 May 2022

Parish

The

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour is in a partnership with the parish of Sacred Heart Church in

Weston Favell Weston Favell is an area near the eastern end of Northampton, and is part of Park ward of the Borough of Northampton. Location Since the Industrial Revolution and the 20th century, the town of Northampton has grown closer and closer to the villa ...

. Our Lady's Church has one Sunday

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

at 9:15am. Sacred Heart Church has two Sunday Masses at 5:30pm on Saturday and at 10:30am.

References

External links

* {{Diocese of Northampton Churches in Northampton Roman Catholic churches in Northamptonshire Roman Catholic churches completed in 1878 Romanesque Revival church buildings in England 1878 establishments in England 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom Shrines to the Virgin Mary Roman Catholic shrines in the United Kingdom