St John'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 let ...

Church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chri ...

in Standishgate,

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the 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 north-east and Warrington ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...

. It is within 200 feet of another Catholic church, St Mary's. Construction on both churches, was done in a spirit of competition, so they both were finished in the same year, 1819. The competition was because St John's Church was originally served by the

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

, whereas St Mary's was always served by priests from the

diocese 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 associa ...

.Martin, Christopher ''A Glimpse of Heaven: Catholic Churches of England and Wales'' (Swindon, 2007), pp. 49-51. However, the Jesuits gave the church to 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 ...

in 1933. It is a Grade II* listed building and the sanctuary inside the church was designed by

Joseph John Scoles Joseph John Scoles (1798–1863) was an English Gothic Revival architect, who designed many Roman Catholic churches. Early life and education Scoles was born in London on 27 June 1798, the son of Roman Catholic parents Matthew Scoles, a joiner, ...

.British listed buildings
retrieved 16 August 2013

History

From 1623, for their own administrative purposes the

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

divided the country into 'residences' and St John's church was named after the 'residence' that covered Lancashire, St John's. Fr Charles Brockholes SJ was the person first connected to the mission of St. John's. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1704 and was sent to Wigan in 1740. When he arrived in Standishgate, where he paid for the building of a house that had a chapel upstairs. This house was built between Dicconson Street and Powell Street. As of 2013, the house still has a priest hiding hole, above a fireplace in the house.St John's History
from StMarysWigan.com, retrieved 16 August 2013 In 1817, the increasing Catholic population of the town meant that there were calls from the congregation for a larger place of worship to be built. A plot of land behind the chapel was used for construction and the foundation stone was laid on 27 January 1818. The church was opened on 24 June 1819. The new church cost £9,000 and could accommodate a congregation of 1,000 people. It was 120 feet long, 50 feet wide and 50 feet high, with room for the parishioners in the organ gallery. Over the following decades, the church was extended and renovated. In 1849, the interior of St. John's was again decorated at a cost of £400. In 1933, the Jesuits relinquished the church to the

, so both churches were staffed by diocesan priests.

Parish

Like St Mary's church, St John's has two Masses for Sundays, with times that do not conflict with its neighbour, one Mass is 5:00pm Saturday afternoon and the other at 11:00am Sunday morning. Since 2018 St John's has been part of St William's parish.

References

External links

St William's Parish site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wigan, Saint John Roman Catholic churches in Greater Manchester Grade II* listed churches in Greater Manchester Saint James Roman Catholic churches completed in 1819 Grade II* listed Roman Catholic churches in England 1819 establishments in England Romanesque Revival church buildings in England 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Liverpool

History

Parish

See also

References

External links