St Michael's Catholic Church is a

Catholic church 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 ...

located on Moor Street in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It received Grade II

listed building 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 ...

status on 25 April 1952.

History

The building itself was first erected in 1726, but was burnt down the 1791 Priestley Riots, which targeted Dr.

Joseph Priestley Joseph Priestley (; 24 March 1733 – 6 February 1804) was an English chemist, Unitarian, Natural philosophy, natural philosopher, English Separatist, separatist theologian, Linguist, grammarian, multi-subject educator and Classical libera ...

who was the minister at the Unitarian since 1780. The Unitarian New Meeting House was rebuilt ten years later and reopened in 1803. When the New Meeting House became unsuitable for congregation, they started construction on a new place of worship on Broad Street. The New Meeting House was purchased, remodelled and consecrated as a Roman Catholic church in 1862, at the time catering for a large influx of Irish and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

immigrant Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

s who had settled in the area, leading to the church being known as "the Italian church". Following

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the church was adopted by the exiled

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

ex-servicemen and their families, and again has seen an influx in Polish congregations following the integration of Poland into the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

in 2004, causing the congregation to grow fourfold. This has led to the creation of separate Polish Mass services. Prior to moving into St Michael's Church, the first Catholic mission in Birmingham was founded in Masshouse Lane in 1687 by the

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

Fathers. When this was burnt down in anti-Catholic riots in 1688,

Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

continued to be offered in various improvised chapels until 1862.

References

External links

St Michael, Birmingham in the Archdiocese of Birmingham
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Michael's Catholic Church, Moor Street Moor Street Moor Street Grade II listed churches in the West Midlands (county) 1726 establishments in Great Britain Churches completed in 1862 Rebuilt churches in the United Kingdom 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom Grade II listed Roman Catholic churches in England Unitarian chapels in England