The Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation or Church of Our Lady of Consolation and St Francis 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, ...

West Grinstead West Grinstead is a village and civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It lies just off the B2135 road four miles (6.3 km) northwest from Henfield. It is within the ancient division of the Rape of Bramber The wester ...

, in

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...

. It was built from 1875 to 1876, with additions made to the church in 1896 and 1964. The church was designed by John A. Crawley and the 1896 additions was designed by

Frederick Walters Frederick Arthur Walters (1849–1931) was a Scottish architect working in the Victorian and Edwardian eras, notable for his Roman Catholic churches. Life Walters was born on 5 February 1849 at 6 South Terrace, Brompton, London, the son of the ar ...

. It is situated on the corner of Steyning Road and Park Lane to the east of the A24 road. It is 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 church and a Grade II listed building. The church is also the shrine of “ Our Lady of Consolation”, which merited a pontifical decree of canonical coronation from

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...

on 12 July 1893.

History

Our Lady of Consolation Grinstead Great Britain

Origins

Before the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

, there was a shrine to the

Blessed Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jews, Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Jose ...

in West Grinstead. After the

, Catholic worship continued in the area. In the mid-1600s, John Caryll, 1st Baron Caryll of Durford bought West Grinstead Manor (demolished in 1964) and the manor's private chapel became the place of worship for local Catholics. It is recorded that in 1671, John Caryll provided £600 to accommodate one priest and support two others. The house became the presbytery of the

mission Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

and later the parish. In 1685, sixteen Catholics were recorded as living in the area. Between 1710 and 1754, the West Grinstead mission was served by 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 ...

. In 1758, John Baptist Caryll, 3rd Baron Caryll of Durford, with mounting costs as a

recusant Recusancy (from la, recusare, translation=to refuse) was the state of those who remained loyal to the Catholic Church and refused to attend Church of England services after the English Reformation. The 1558 Recusancy Acts passed in the reign ...

landowner, had to sell West Grinstead Manor. After the house was sold, Edward Caryll gave the presbytery to the priests and endowed the mission with £1,300. From 1758 until 1815, from that house Franciscans served the local Catholics in the area.West Grinstead: Roman Catholicism
from

British History Online ''British History Online'' is a digital library of primary and secondary sources on medieval and modern history of Great Britain and Ireland. It was created and is managed as a cooperative venture by the Institute of Historical Research, Univer ...

, retrieved 25 June 2017

Foundation

In 1863, the local Catholic

was revived when a French priest, Jean-Marie Denis was appointed to serve the Catholic population in the area. As well as founding the church, he also reopened the school (later becoming an orphanage), and built St Juliana's Priory next to the church. Denis was asked by the Bishop of Southwark to build a 'miniature French cathedral'. An appeal for funds spread to France, Belgium and the Netherlands. On 29 May 1875, the foundation stone of the church was laid.

Priory

The priory was built in 1869 and housed 36 nuns. In 1871,

Dominican Sisters The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of Cal ...

moved into the priory and started a refuge for girls. Eventually the orphanage and refuge merged. In 1903, it was called St Joseph's and from 1909 to 1922, it became St Mary's, before closing by 1933.West Grinstead
from ''

'', retrieved 17 July 2017 From 1935, the premises were occupied by the St Thomas More School, a Catholic school for boys run by the

Presentation Brothers The Congregation of Presentation Brothers is an international Catholic congregation of laymen founded in 1802 in Waterford, Ireland, by a local Irish businessman, Edmund Ignatius Rice, now Blessed Edmund Ignatius Rice. Presentation Brothers live a ...

. The brothers left in 1977, the school closed in 1984 and the building was later demolished.St Thomas More School, West Grinstead
from ChildrensHomes.org.uk, retrieved 17 July 2017

Construction

The church was designed by John A. Crawley who was also the architect of the Church of the Sacred Heart in

Hove Hove is a seaside resort and one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove, along with Brighton in East Sussex, England. Originally a "small but ancient fishing village" surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th c ...

. On 27 June 1876, the church was opened. At that stage it consisted of the

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-type ...

and

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. Crawley's original plan for the church included

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building wi ...

s, a

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

for the nuns, and a tower with

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires are ...

. However, Crawley died in 1881 and did not see the rest of his plans finished.West Grinstead - Our Lady of Consolation and St Francis
from ''Taking Stock'' by

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 ...

, retrieved 25 June 2017 Since 1880, annual pilgrimages were made every July from

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

, the archdiocese's cathedral. However, from 1965, the

Diocese of Arundel and Brighton The Roman Catholic Diocese of Arundel and Brighton (in la, Dioecesis Arundeliensis-Brichtelmestunensis) is a Latin Church Roman Catholic diocese in southern England covering the counties of Sussex and Surrey (excluding Spelthorne, which is pa ...

was formed from the Archdiocese of Southwark from then separate pilgrimages made by parishes, groups and individuals from the new diocese. From 1887 to 1889,

Francis Bourne Francis Alphonsus Bourne (1861–1935) was an English prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as the fourth Archbishop of Westminster from 1903 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1911. Biography Early life Francis Bo ...

was

curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...

at the church. He later became Archbishop of Westminster and a cardinal. In 1896, under the direction of the architect

, the

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a sa ...

, side chapels and bell turret were added to the church. The aisles were also raised. On 14 July 1896, the church was re-opened.

Additions

In 1953, the writer and historian

Hilaire Belloc Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc (, ; 27 July 187016 July 1953) was a Franco-English writer and historian of the early twentieth century. Belloc was also an orator, poet, sailor, satirist, writer of letters, soldier, and political activist. H ...

died and was buried in the shrine church. He was a regular attendee at Mass in the parish. In 1964, in memory of his death, the tower was built. Construction work was supervised by the architectural firm Riley & Glanfield. On 31 October 2012, the philanthropist

Nona Byrne The Honourable Nona Georgette Byrne DSG (10 September 1922 – 31 October 2012), née Nona Georgette Lawrence, was a British Roman Catholic philanthropist. In 1960, with her husband Vincent Byrne, she founded the Catholic Building Society, becomi ...

died. She was also buried in the church. Our Lady of Consolation painting, Shrine Church, West Grinstead.jpg, Our Lady of Consolation painting West Grinstead RC church interior.jpg, Church interior File:Belloc Grave.jpg, Hilaire Belloc's grave

Parish

Within 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 ...

is the only post-Reformation Carthusian monastery in the United Kingdom, St. Hugh's Charterhouse, Parkminster. The shrine church has

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 6:00pm on Saturday evening and at 10:30am on Sunday. The parish of Corpus Christi Church in

Henfield Henfield is a large village and civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It lies south of London, northwest of Brighton, and east northeast of the county town of Chichester at the road junction of the A281 and A2037. Th ...

is served from West Grinstead and it has Sunday Mass at 9:00am.

References

External links

*
Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation of West Grinstead site
{{Roman Catholic Diocese of Arundel and Brighton Horsham District Shrines to the Virgin Mary Roman Catholic shrines in the United Kingdom Roman Catholic churches completed in 1876 Grade II listed churches in West Sussex Roman Catholic churches in West Sussex Grade II listed Roman Catholic churches in England 1875 establishments in England Gothic Revival church buildings in England Gothic Revival architecture in West Sussex 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom