Church Of The Holy Name Of Jesus, Manchester
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The Church of the Holy Name of Jesus on Oxford Road,
Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
, England was designed by Joseph A. Hansom and built between 1869 and 1871. The tower, designed by
Adrian Gilbert Scott Adrian Gilbert Scott CBE (6 August 1882 – 23 April 1963) was an English ecclesiastical architect. Early life Scott was the grandson of Sir Gilbert Scott (George Gilbert Scott), son of George Gilbert Scott, Jr. (founder of Watts & Company ...
, was erected in 1928 in memory of Fr Bernard Vaughan, SJ. The church has been
Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
on the
National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, ...
since 1989, having previously been Grade II* listed since 1963.


History

In 1860, William Turner, the first bishop of
Salford Salford ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Greater Manchester, England, on the western bank of the River Irwell which forms its boundary with Manchester city centre. Landmarks include the former Salford Town Hall, town hall, ...
, invited the
Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
to make a home in Chorlton-on-Medlock, at the time a middle class suburb. As well as the growing middle classes, Manchester was home to a large and expanding population of Irish immigrants who migrated to work in cotton manufacturing, especially after the Great Famine. In the area known as Little Ireland, the Parish of
St Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under various titles such as virgin or queen, many of them mentioned in the Litany of Loreto. ...
, Mulberry Street was unable to cope; in twenty years, thirteen priests had succumbed to
typhus Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposu ...
whilst working amongst the city's poor. The Jesuits had a formidable record of
outreach Outreach is the activity of providing services to any population that might not otherwise have access to those services. A key component of outreach is that the group providing it is not stationary, but mobile; in other words, it involves meetin ...
and
missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...
work, and this was put to good use. Whilst he was rector from 1888 to 1901, Fr Bernard Vaughan SJ took part in a series of debates with the
Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
Bishop of Manchester The Bishop of Manchester is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Anglican Diocese of Manchester, Diocese of Manchester in the Province of York.) The current bishop is David Walker (Bishop of Manchester), David Walker who w ...
,
James Moorhouse James Moorhouse (19 November 1826 – 9 April 1915) was an Anglican Bishop of Melbourne and a Bishop of Manchester, and a Chancellor of the University of Melbourne. Early life and career Moorhouse was born in Sheffield, England, the only son ...
, over rival claims of the
Catholic Church in England and Wales The Catholic Church in England and Wales (; ) is part of the worldwide Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See. Its origins date from the 6th century, when Pope Gregory I through a Roman missionary and Benedictine monk, Augustine, ...
and the
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
to be the Catholic Church in England and successor of
St. Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosop ...
. In their jubilation, the young men of Holy Name pulled his carriage from the city centre all the way to the church.


Construction

Bishop Turner was keen to have a church in Chorlton-on-Medlock staffed with priests who could meet the intellectual, apologetic and controversial needs of Manchester. Jesuits from St Helens came to settle, at first in a temporary church (now the site of the Holy Name Hall, which has since been sold). Holy Name was made a parish church to serve the growing populations of the parishes of
Longsight Longsight is an inner city area of Manchester, England, south of the Manchester City Centre, city centre, bounded by Ardwick and Gorton, West Gorton to the north and east; Levenshulme to the south; and Chorlton-on-Medlock, Victoria Park, Man ...
and Chorlton-on-Medlock, as villas were replaced by streets as the population of industrial Manchester grew. The construction of the building reinforced the power of the Jesuit order and the revived confidence of the English Catholics. It is the largest church in Manchester and dominates the surrounding area. The church's dimensions and proportions are on the scale of a 14th-century
cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...
; it is 186 feet long east to west and 112 feet wide. The architect Joseph Aloysius Hansom (who gave his name to the
Hansom Cab The hansom cab is a kind of horse-drawn carriage designed and patented in 1834 by Joseph Hansom, an architect from York. The vehicle was developed and tested by Hansom in Hinckley, Leicestershire, England. Originally called the Hansom safet ...
) based the building on
Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, a Germanic people **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Gothic alphabet, an alphabet used to write the Gothic language ** Gothic ( ...
styles of France.
Sir Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (195 ...
described it as ''"...a design of the very highest quality and of an originality nowhere demonstrative; ... Hansom never again did so marvellous a church."'' Although medieval in appearance, it is a counter-Reformation church, designed to teach the faith through its external liturgical and devotional manifestation. It gives maximum exposure to the solemn celebration of the Mass (a raised altar near the congregation with no rood screen, and a shallow, broad sanctuary), the cult of the Eucharist (the eye is first carried to the tabernacle and the exposition throne above), preaching (a large pulpit to place the preacher intimately in the congregation), and the hearing of confessions (the whole north side is taken up with confessionals designed for long hours of priestly ministration). Consequently, the pillars in the church are unusually slender, accomplished by making the roof of the church from hollow terracotta tubes, manufactured by Gibbs and Canning.''Pevsner Architectural Guides - Manchester'', Clare Hartwell, 2001, Built in brick, it is clad in brushed Warwick stone. Hansom's original design called for a broad shrine shaped steeple 73 feet high. In 1928 the tower was built, designed by
Adrian Gilbert Scott Adrian Gilbert Scott CBE (6 August 1882 – 23 April 1963) was an English ecclesiastical architect. Early life Scott was the grandson of Sir Gilbert Scott (George Gilbert Scott), son of George Gilbert Scott, Jr. (founder of Watts & Company ...
. The nave can accommodate 800 worshippers. Small
chapels A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are o ...
adorn the south side, along with the baptistery towards the west. On the north side are confessionals, each with a fireplace. Between the confessionals and the chapels are the
Stations of the Cross The Stations of the Cross or the Way of the Cross, also known as the Via Dolorosa, Way of Sorrows or the , are a series of fourteen images depicting Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ on the day of Crucifixion of Jesus, his crucifixion and acc ...
. The
pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accesse ...
has a mosaic of the English Martyrs. According to
Simon Jenkins Sir Simon David Jenkins FLSW (born 10 June 1943) is a British author, a newspaper columnist and editor. He was editor of the ''Evening Standard'' from 1976 to 1978 and of ''The Times'' from 1990 to 1992. Jenkins chaired the National Trust f ...
, the church interior has "an aura unlike any church I know", and the interior decoration gives an "impression of no expense spared".


Liturgy

At the Holy Name, mass is celebrated in English. The celebration of the liturgy is designed to be catechetical, with solemn ritual, music, hymns and a familiar preaching style. Sunday Mass lasts about an hour. Weekday Masses, designed to suit the student timetable, are at 12:30pm. Each lunchtime there is exposition of the Blessed Sacrament at noon, during which confessions are heard.


Music

The organ is located at the west end of the nave. Built in 1871 by William Hill & Son of London, it has 48 speaking stops over three-manuals and pedals. It was completely rebuilt in 1926 by Messrs Wadsworth Ltd and restored in 2004. It is maintained by David Wells of Liverpool. The pipes on the front of the case are ornately diapered and were restored to their original colour scheme of lighter shades of red and green with gold motifs. Above the organ and choir loft are two gilded angels. Music for the Solemn Mass follows the decrees of the Vatican, and utilises Gregorian chant and polyphony on Sundays (with congregational English hymns), whilst for major solemnities there are classical organ and orchestral settings from the 17th to the 21st century. Proximity of the chaplaincy church to the
University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...
and
Royal Northern College of Music The Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) is a conservatoire located in Manchester, England. It is one of four conservatoires associated with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. In addition to being a centre of music education ...
means that students play an integeral role in the musical life of the church, through participating in the two active choral groups, using the church as concert venue for student led classical and sacred music groups, and providing a place for music students to practice.


Clergy

The bishop asked the Jesuits to close the church in 1985. By then the congregation had dwindled because of local shifts in housing and demographics, and the church was closed for most of the day. The diocese did not want it, so the major superiors of England and Wales were asked to consider its viability. A community of secular priests and lay brothers (an Oratory of St Philip ''in Formation'') came to Manchester in 1992 and since then the church has been in the process of massive renovation project. It is open daily and congregational numbers have increased. In September 2012, it was announced that the Jesuits would return to Manchester to take over the chaplaincy to the Universities, the
Royal Northern College of Music The Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) is a conservatoire located in Manchester, England. It is one of four conservatoires associated with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. In addition to being a centre of music education ...
and the church. The Oratory community at the Holy Name under Fr Raymond Matus was relocated to St Chad's, Cheetham Hill where Bishop Terence Brain had granted them permission to establish a Congregation of the
Oratory of Saint Philip Neri The Confederation of Oratories of Saint Philip Neri (), abbreviated C.O. and commonly known as the Oratorians, is a Catholic Church, Catholic society of apostolic life of pontifical right for men (priests and Religious brother, religious brot ...
.


People Connected to the Holy Name Church


Sebastião Pinto Leite

* Sebastião Pinto Leite Count of Penha Longa, Viscount of Ganderinha, a member of the wealthy Portuguese and Brazilian Pinto Leite mercantile and banking family based in
Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...
and
Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...
. He, his brother Jaoquim Pinto Leite, and nephew, also Jaoquim Pinto Leite, and other members of the family, had at various points in the nineteenth and early twentieth century business interests in Manchester as Pinto Leite and Brother, a fabric exporting business based on Sackville Street. The family funerals, weddings and baptisms were held at the Holy Name. They were also major financial benefactors of the church, and several members of the family are commemorated within the church.


Anthony Burgess

Renowned English author
Anthony Burgess John Anthony Burgess Wilson, (; 25 February 1917 – 22 November 1993) who published under the name Anthony Burgess, was an English writer and composer. Although Burgess was primarily a comic writer, his Utopian and dystopian fiction, dy ...
visited the Holy Name as a young man, in 1965 he wrote, ‘with me, at an age when I could not counter the arguments of the Holy Name Jesuits, it was unavoidable agony since it was happening, it seemed, against my will. As an English schoolboy brought up on the history of the Reformation, I rejected a good deal of Roman Catholicism, but instinct, emotion, loyalty, fear, tugged away.'


Leslie Stuart

Leslie Stuart Leslie Stuart (15 March 1863 – 27 March 1928) born Thomas Augustine Barrett was an English composer of Edwardian musical comedy, best known for the hit show ''Florodora'' (1899) and many popular songs. He began in Manchester as a church orga ...
was a
Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...
born composer of stage musicals and popular songs of the
Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...
and
Edwardian In the United Kingdom, the Edwardian era was a period in the early 20th century that spanned the reign of King Edward VII from 1901 to 1910. It is commonly extended to the start of the First World War in 1914, during the early reign of King Ge ...
era. In 1899 he wrote his biggest hit
Florodora ''Florodora'' is an Edwardian musical comedy. After its long run in London, it became one of the first successful Broadway theatre, Broadway musicals of the 20th century. The book was written by Jimmy Davis under the pseudonym Owen Hall, the mus ...
which was produced on
Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...
in
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
. In 1887
Bernard Vaughan Bernard Vaughan, SJ (1847–1922) was an English Catholic priest, brother of Bishops Herbert, Roger and John Stephen Vaughan. Biography Early life He was born in Herefordshire, the son of Lieutenant-Colonel John Francis Vaughan, of an old r ...
employed Stuart as organist at the Holy Name. He lived nearby with his family in a large semidetached villa on Lime Grove.


Pedro Ballester Arenas

Born
Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
22nd of May 1996, was a
Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
student, who was diagnosed with
cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...
of the pelvis. He returned from
Imperial College Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a cultural district in South Kensington that included museums ...
to Manchester to receive treatment. During this time he was resident nearby the Holy Name in Victoria Park where he died, under the care of
Opus Dei is an institution of the Catholic Church that was founded in Spain in 1928 by Josemaría Escrivá. Its stated mission is to help its lay and clerical members seek holiness in their everyday occupations and societies. Opus Dei is officially r ...
. Pedro is a candidate for
Canonisation Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of sai ...
. His funeral was held at the Holy Name in 2018.


Jerome Caminada

Jerome Caminada Jerome Caminada (1844 – March 1914) was a 19th-century police officer in Manchester, England. Caminada served with the police between 1868 and 1899, and has been called Manchester's Sherlock Holmes. In 1897 he became the city's first CID super ...
known as the Manchester
Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a Detective fiction, fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "Private investigator, consulting detective" in his stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with obser ...
was a Manchester born police officer and the first CID superintendent of the city. He had a long association with the Holy Name, he married Amelia Wainhouse there in 1881, and his requiem mass was held there in 1914.


The Smiths

Manchester band,
The Smiths The Smiths were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Manchester in 1982, composed of Morrissey (vocals), Johnny Marr (guitar), Andy Rourke (bass) and Mike Joyce (musician), Mike Joyce (drums). Morrissey and Marr formed the band's songwrit ...
, referred to the Holy Name church in the opening line of
Vicar in a Tutu ''The Queen Is Dead'' is the third studio album by the English rock band the Smiths, released on 16 June 1986, by Rough Trade Records. Following the release of their second album ''Meat Is Murder'', the Smiths retreated to Greater Manchester t ...
, ''"I was minding my business lifting some lead off the roof of The Holy Name church"''.


Funeral of Pat Phoenix

The funeral of locally born actress
Pat Phoenix Patricia Phoenix (born Patricia Frederica Manfield; 26 November 1923 – 17 September 1986) was an English actress who became one of the first sex symbols of British television through her role as Elsie Tanner, an original cast member of '' ...
, best known for her role of
Elsie Tanner Elsie Tanner (also Howard) is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'', played by Pat Phoenix from the series' inception in 1960 to 1973, and again from 1976 until 1984. Elsie Tanner was one of the original c ...
in ''
Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' (colloquially referred to as ''Corrie'') is a British television soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres on a cobbled, terraced ...
'', was held at the church following her death in September 1986.


See also

*
Diocese of Salford The Diocese of Salford () is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church centred on the City of Salford in Greater Manchester, England. The diocese was founded in 1852 as one of the first post-Reformation Catholic dioceses in Great Britain. Since 191 ...
*
Manchester University The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...
*
Grade I listed churches in Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England. It was created by the Local Government Act 1972, and consists of the metropolitan boroughs of Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Bolton, Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Bury, Metropo ...
* Listed buildings in Manchester-M13 *
List of churches in Greater Manchester This is a partial list of churches in Greater Manchester, North West England, split according to metropolitan district. There is a mixture of Christian denominations in Greater Manchester, including churches aligned to Orthodox Christianity, ...
* List of Jesuit sites in the United Kingdom


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Manchester, Holy Name of Jesus
Holy Name In Catholicism, the veneration of the Holy Name of Jesus (also ''Most Holy Name of Jesus'', ) developed as a separate type of devotion in the early modern period, in parallel to that of the '' Sacred Heart''. The ''Litany of the Holy Name'' is ...
Holy Name In Catholicism, the veneration of the Holy Name of Jesus (also ''Most Holy Name of Jesus'', ) developed as a separate type of devotion in the early modern period, in parallel to that of the '' Sacred Heart''. The ''Litany of the Holy Name'' is ...
Holy Name In Catholicism, the veneration of the Holy Name of Jesus (also ''Most Holy Name of Jesus'', ) developed as a separate type of devotion in the early modern period, in parallel to that of the '' Sacred Heart''. The ''Litany of the Holy Name'' is ...
Jesuit churches in the United Kingdom Grade I listed Roman Catholic churches in England Adrian Gilbert Scott buildings 1869 establishments in England Roman Catholic churches completed in 1928 Manchester, Holy Name Buildings by Joseph Hansom 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom Roman Catholic Diocese of Salford