St Casimir's Lithuanian Church is in

Bethnal Green Bethnal Green is an area in London, England, and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in east London and part of the East End of London, East End. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the common la ...

, London, England.

History

The mission was founded in 1901, with a church on the corner of Christian Street and

Cable Street Cable Street is a road in the East End of London, England, with several historic landmarks nearby. It was made famous by the Battle of Cable Street in 1936. Location Cable Street starts near the edge of London's financial district, the Cit ...

. Fr Boleslas Szlamas had his quarters at 197 Whitechapel Road. The present church dates from ten years later, during the rectorate of Fr Casimir G. Matulaitis. It was opened by

Cardinal 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 ...

on 10 March 1912. The Mass on this occasion was said by Fr

Benedict Williamson Benedict Williamson (1868–1948) was an architect who designed many Romanesque Revival churches in the United Kingdom who later became a Roman Catholic priest. Early life He was born in 1868 as William Edward Williamson in London. He studied ...

, who was the architect of the church. For the

Lithuanians Lithuanians () are a Balts, Baltic ethnic group. They are native to Lithuania, where they number around 2,378,118 people. Another two million make up the Lithuanian diaspora, largely found in countries such as the Lithuanian Americans, United Sta ...

, Williamson designed a building of London stock brick.

Architecture

Beyond a south-east

porch A porch (; , ) is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance to a building. A porch is placed in front of the façade of a building it commands, and forms a low front. Alternatively, it may be a vestibule (architecture), vestibule (a s ...

, the layout of the church is easily read, with

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 ...

, aisles and

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

all within three

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

s. There are no aisle windows, but circular windows appear in the north wall and throughout

clerestory A clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey; from Old French ''cler estor'') is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye-level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both. Historically, a ''clerestory' ...

. The interior is dominated by the huge, cheerful, brightly painted altarpiece depicting the Coronation of Our Lady carved in

wood Wood is a structural tissue/material found as xylem in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulosic fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin t ...

. It is said, though it is much disputed, that it was shown at the Great Exhibition of 1851 as an example of Tyrolean craftsmanship and was, at one time, destined for

Westminster Cathedral Westminster Cathedral, officially the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Most Precious Blood, is the largest Catholic Church in England and Wales, Roman Catholic church in England and Wales. The shrine is dedicated to the Blood of Jesus Ch ...

.A Glimpse of Heaven: Catholic Churches of England and Wales by Christopher Martin, 2006, Our Lady is attended by angels in various attitudes in piety and prayer. A golden, winged crown hovers above Her head. The seated figures of

Christ Jesus ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Christianity, central figure of Christianity, the M ...

and

God the Father God the Father is a title given to God in Christianity. In mainstream trinitarian Christianity, God the Father is regarded as the first Person of the Trinity, followed by the second person, Jesus Christ the Son, and the third person, God th ...

look on from above and behind Her.

The Holy Spirit The Holy Spirit, otherwise known as the Holy Ghost, is a concept within the Abrahamic religions. In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is understood as the divine quality or force of God manifesting in the world, particularly in acts of prophecy, creatio ...

in the form of a dove sheds rays of light out towards

cherubim A cherub (; : cherubim; ''kərūḇ'', pl. ''kərūḇīm'') is one type of supernatural being in the Abrahamic religions. The numerous depictions of cherubim assign to them many different roles, such as protecting the entrance of the Garden o ...

who are half concealed in the clouds that form the background of the whole tableau. Father Williamson's taste is less evident in other parts of the church. The statue of St. Casimir located to the right of the altar is a piece of fine art made in Lithuania from Ancaster limestone by famous Lithuanian sculptor Antanas Žukauskas in 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bethnal Green, Saint Casimir Roman Catholic churches in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Westminster

Saint Casimir Casimir Jagiellon (; ; ; ; 3 October 1458 – 4 March 1484) was a prince of the Kingdom of Poland and of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The second son of King Casimir IV Jagiellon, he was tutored by Johannes Longinus, a Polish chronicler, diplo ...

Roman Catholic churches completed in 1911 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom Lithuanian diaspora in Europe Lithuania–United Kingdom relations