The Oxford Oratory Church of St Aloysius Gonzaga (or Oxford Oratory for short) is the

Catholic 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 ...

parish church for the centre of

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. It is located at 25 Woodstock Road, next to

Somerville College Somerville College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. Among its alumnae have been Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Dorothy Hodgkin, ...

. The church is served by the Congregation of the Oratory.

History

St Aloysius' was founded as the

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

(Society of Jesus) parish of central Oxford. Completed in 1875, the building of St Aloysius' was an important step in the ongoing refoundation of a Roman Catholic presence in Oxford. The parish was served by notable members of the society for many years, including

Gerard Manley Hopkins Gerard Manley Hopkins (28 July 1844 – 8 June 1889) was an English poet and Jesuit priest, whose posthumous fame placed him among leading Victorian poets. His prosody – notably his concept of sprung rhythm – established him as an innova ...

(December 1878 – September 1879). The church also housed a notable collection of relics bequeathed by

Hartwell de la Garde Grissell Hartwell de la Garde Grissell (1839–1907) was a papal chamberlain and the founder of the Oxford University Newman Society. Education Grissell was born in 1839 as the son of Thomas Grissell, a prosperous public works contractor. He was educa ...

, many of which were destroyed in the 1970s. In the 1980s, the Jesuits left the church and the parish was taken over by the

Archdiocese of Birmingham The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham is one of the principal Latin-rite Catholic administrative divisions of England and Wales in the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church. The archdiocese covers an area of , encompassing Staffordshire ...

. In 1990, the

Archbishop of Birmingham The Archbishop of Birmingham heads the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham in England. As such he is the metropolitan archbishop of the Province of Birmingham. The archdiocese covers an area of and spans of the counties of Oxfordshire, S ...

invited members of the

Birmingham Oratory The Birmingham Oratory is an English Catholic religious community of the Congregation of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri, located in the Edgbaston area of Birmingham. The community was founded in 1849 by St. John Henry Newman, Cong.Orat., the fi ...

to take over the running of the parish and found a new Oratorian community in Oxford. Two priests from Birmingham arrived in September 1990 and, in 1993, the Oxford Oratory was established as an independent Congregation. Fr Robert Byrne then served as provost from 1993 to 2011. From 2011 to 2019, Fr Daniel Seward served as provost. The incumbent is the Very Rev. Fr Nicholas Edmonds-Smith.

Liturgy

It is part of the tradition of the Oratory in England to ensure that the

liturgy Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. ''Liturgy'' can also be used to refer specifically to public worship by Christians. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and partic ...

is celebrated in a dignified and worthy manner. In the Oxford Oratory most Masses are celebrated in English, but on Sundays and Holydays a non-Tridentine Solemn Mass is sung in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

. Latin is also used in the Tridentine Low Mass also celebrated on Sundays and Holydays, while the Parish Mass is sung in English.

Organ

The organ was enlarged between 1998 and 2004 by Matthew Copley. A specification of the organ can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register.

Building

The church was designed by

Joseph 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 ...

in a

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style. Much of the original interior decoration was painted over in the 1970s, and the

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in pagan ...

moved forward. The building is being gradually restored as part of the Oratory's "Reaffirmation and Renewal" campaign, which commenced fundraising in 2007.Oxford Oratory Trust
"Oxford Oratory - Reaffirmation & Renewal" campaign
accessed 25 February 2023 The church consists of a single

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-typ ...

and five side chapels. To the left of the sanctuary is the

Sacred Heart The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus ( la, Cor Jesu Sacratissimum) is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This dev ...

chapel, and 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, ...

is to the right. There are also chapels dedicated to

St Philip Neri Philip Romolo Neri ( ; it, italics=no, Filippo Romolo Neri, ; 22 July 151526 May 1595), known as the "Second Apostle of Rome", after Saint Peter, was an Italian priest noted for founding a society of secular clergy called the Congregation of th ...

(formerly

St Joseph Joseph (; el, Ἰωσήφ, translit=Ioséph) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who, according to the canonical Gospels, was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. The Gospels also name some brothers of ...

's chapel) and Our Lady of Oxford (also known as the

relic In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...

chapel). A shrine dedicated to St

John Henry Newman John Henry Newman (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890) was an English theologian, academic, intellectual, philosopher, polymath, historian, writer, scholar and poet, first as an Anglican priest and later as a Catholic priest and ...

after his

beatification Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to Intercession of saints, intercede on behalf of individual ...

was established in 2010, and there are plans to build a new

baptistery In Christian architecture the baptistery or baptistry (Old French ''baptisterie''; Latin ''baptisterium''; Greek , 'bathing-place, baptistery', from , baptízein, 'to baptize') is the separate centrally planned structure surrounding the baptism ...

.Oxford Oratory Trust
New Baptistery
accessed 25 February 2023

Gallery

File:Oxford Oratory altar 2010-04-18.jpg, Church altar File:Bernard Longley Oxford Oratory 3 2010-04-18.jpg, Church sanctuary File:Oxford Oratory 1 2010-04-18.jpg, View of the altar

References

External links

*
The Latin Mass Society of England & Wales

Latin Masses in Oxford
* {{Authority control 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom Buildings by Joseph Hansom Christian organizations established in 1993 Churches in Oxford Grade II listed Roman Catholic churches in England Grade II listed buildings in Oxford Grade II listed churches in Oxfordshire Oratorian communities in the United Kingdom Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham Roman Catholic churches completed in 1875 Roman Catholic churches in Oxfordshire