St Thomas Church (

Jèrriais ( ; also known as the Jersey language, Jersey French and Jersey Norman French in English) is a Romance languages, Romance language and the traditional language of the Jersey people. It is a form of the Norman language spoken in Jersey, an isla ...

: ''Églyise dé Saint Thonmas'') is a historic

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

St. Helier St Helier (; Jèrriais: ; ) is the capital of Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands in the English Channel. It is the most populous of the twelve parishes of Jersey, with a population of 35,822, over one-third of the island's total popul ...

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

. It is the largest church in the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They are divided into two Crown Dependencies: the Jersey, Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands; and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, ...

, and first opened its doors in 1887.

History

Restoring Catholicism

Catholicism was restored to Jersey with the influx of refugees fleeing to the island to escape the French Revolution. With the arrival of bishops, priests and laity from revolutionary France, Catholic chapels were set up in St. Helier to meet their spiritual needs.

Establishing a Church

The first sizeable permanent post-

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

Catholic church was a converted Protestant chapel in New Street, which was established in 1842 and dedicated to St. Thomas in honour of Bishop Thomas Griffiths,

Apostolic Vicariate of the London District The Apostolic Vicariate of the London District was an ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. It was led by a vicar apostolic who was a titular bishop. The apostolic vicariate was created in 1688 and was dissolved ...

, who opened it for worship. The church was served by various French and Belgium diocesan priests until 1880, when the Bishop handed the mission over to the French province of the

Oblates of Mary Immaculate The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) is a missionary religious congregation in the Catholic Church. It was founded on January 25, 1816, by Eugène de Mazenod, a French priest later recognized as a Catholic saint. The congregation was ...

. Within two years, an appeal was started for the building of a new church in Val Plaisant, which opened in 1887. The French speaking parishioners were so proud of this Church, the largest in the Channel Islands, that they called it ''La Cathédrale''. The consecration took place on 5 September 1893, to commemorate the centenary of the re-establishment of the Catholic Church in the Channel Isles, in 1793, when the bill of tolerance was handed over to Mathieu de Gruchy, a Jerseyman and a convert who became a priest in the French diocese of

Luçon Luçon () is a Communes of France, commune in the Vendée Departments of France, department, Pays de la Loire Regions of France, region, western France. Its inhabitants are known as Luçonnais. Luçon Cathedral is the seat of the Diocese of Luço ...

before the

Revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...

. From 1880 until 1999 the church was served faithfully by French

Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) is a missionary religious congregation in the Catholic Church. It was founded on January 25, 1816, by Eugène de Mazenod, a French priest later recognized as a Catholic saint. The congregation wa ...

. It was Fathe
Donat Michaux
, who raised the money for and directed the building of the church. For this reason, he has always been regarded as its founder. The church was adapted for the new liturgy in 1984 and was beautifully restored in 2006/2007 under the direction of Monsignor Nicholas France, Catholic Dean in Jersey.

Description

St. Thomas's Church is constructed in the thirteenth-century style and comprises nave, aisles, transepts with chapels forming the arms of the Cross, and a chancel. Two small chapels lengthening the lower sides westward have the appearance of chancels to either aisles. On each side of the tower are two other chapels with groined vaults, that at the south end having a deep recess in the centre of which stands the baptismal font. At the apsis of the

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 ...

and in

corbel In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal keyed into and projecting from a wall to carry a wikt:superincumbent, bearing weight, a type of bracket (architecture), bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in t ...

on a low granite shaft with moulded base and sculptured capital is a richly framed

niche Niche may refer to: Science *Developmental niche, a concept for understanding the cultural context of child development and growth *Ecological niche, a term describing the relational position of an organism's species *Niche differentiation, in ec ...

, occupying the centre arch of an

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated video, pinball, electro-mechanical, redemption, etc., game ** Arcade video game, a coin-operated video game ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade video game's hardware ** Arcad ...

with a bud ornament. Inside the niche is a group representing the Apparition of the

Sacred Heart The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus () is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus Christ is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This devotion to Christ is p ...

to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque at

Paray-le-Monial Paray-le-Monial is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. Since 2004, Paray-le-Monial has been part of the Charolais-Brionnais region. Its inhabitants are called Parodiens and P ...

. Above is a circular window with a twelve-section

tracery Tracery is an architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone ''bars'' or ''ribs'' of moulding. Most commonly, it refers to the stonework elements that support th ...

work.

Frescos

The fresco paintings on either side of the rose window represent, at the top, left to right, St. Michael and guardian angels, angels playing musical instruments and angels singing, and above the cornice, saints: St. Thomas of Aquinas and St. Thomas the Apostle, St. Louis IX, King of France,

St. George Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the ...

, the patron saint of England, St. Joan of Arc, St. Peter, the Blessed Virgin,

St. Joseph According to the canonical Gospels, Joseph (; ) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. Joseph is venerated as Saint Joseph in the Catholic Church, Eastern Orth ...

St. Anne According to apocrypha, as well as Christian and Islamic tradition, Saint Anne was the mother of Mary, the wife of Joachim and the maternal grandmother of Jesus. Mary's mother is not named in the Bible's canonical gospels. In writing, Anne's na ...

, two

Carmelite The Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel (; abbreviated OCarm), known as the Carmelites or sometimes by synecdoche known simply as Carmel, is a mendicant order in the Catholic Church for both men and women. Histo ...

Saints, and two

Virgins Virginity is a social construct that denotes the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. As it is not an objective term with an operational definition, social definitions of what constitutes virginity, or the lack thereof ...

and

Martyrs A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' Word stem, stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In ...

. The two other paintings in the lancet arches, with a blending of allegorical and realistic designs, symbolize the

Good Shepherd The Good Shepherd (, ''poimḗn ho kalós'') is an image used in the pericope of , in which Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ is depicted as the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep. Similar imagery is used in Psalm 23 and Ezeki ...

and the Holy Redeemer. The hollow of the cornice under the niche, the lancets and on the sides of the altar is of a richly foliated work.

The Nave

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 ...

is divided into seven arches, two lancets and five large; the chancel is separated from the adjacent chapels by a large equilateral arch and a

lancet arch Gothic architecture is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High Middle Ages, High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It evolved f ...

. Each of the lancets, west and east of the transepts is surmounted by sculptured brackets to receive statues for which sculptured canopies have also been arranged. The walls of the nave and of the chancel are supported on each side by piers of clustered shafts in Crazannes stone. Each semi-detached shaft is crowned with a sculptured capital from which spring the arches. Each capital has a different design of sculptured foliage, flowers and buds, both in the nave and chancel and the aisles and transepts.

Dimensions

The height of the nave is 60 feet beneath the vault; that of the aisles is 30 feet. The length of the nave is 109 feet from the communion rail to the inner door of the porch; the chancel is 36 feet. The breadth across the transepts is 89 feet. The total length of the Church externally is 179 feet from the niche to the portal; internally it is 163 feet, inclusive of the depth of the porch under the steeple which is 18 feet.

The Vaults

All the groined roof is made of hollow bricks covered with plaster, having the appearance of stone, that of the nave, of the

, of the

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...

s and of the chapels forming the arms of the Cross is ornamented with moulded arches with sculptured

keystones A keystone (or capstone) is the wedge-shaped stone at the apex of a masonry arch or typically round-shaped one at the apex of a vault. In both cases it is the final piece placed during construction and locks all the stones into position, allo ...

. The vaults are strengthened by interior and exterior

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient (typically Gothic) buildings, as a means of providing support to act ...

es surmounted by

gargoyle In architecture, and specifically Gothic architecture, a gargoyle () is a carved or formed Grotesque (architecture), grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building, thereby preventing it from ...

s representing chimeras of different kinds.

The Steeple

The tower, built of

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

granite, is composed of a rectangular portion into which the portal opens and is surmounted by an open-work spire. The portal, with a tympanum representing the Apparition of our Lord, after His Resurrection, to St. Thomas the Apostle, and signed Louis Dupont, is surmounted by a three-light window with

mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid sup ...

s and a

rose A rose is either a woody perennial plant, perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred Rose species, species and Garden roses, tens of thousands of cultivar ...

, in blue granite of Brittany. It gives light to the gallery from the east. The steeple is 111 feet from the ground to the spire windows, and from these to the summit of the Cross it is 85 feet, giving a total of 196 feet.

Clock and Bells

The portion of the tower above the roof of the church holds the

belfry The belfry /ˈbɛlfri/ is a structure enclosing bells for ringing as part of a building, usually as part of a bell tower or steeple. It can also refer to the entire tower or building, particularly in continental Europe for such a tower attached ...

with a peal of five bells: *treble B, 5 cwt, Eloise-Ida-Therese de l’FJ *3 F sharp, 16 cwt, Clotilde-Louise-Leonie *4 E, 20 cwt, Marie Immaculee *tenor B, 52 cwt, Anne-Marie-Andree-Ignace Treble B and G sharp have been cast by Cornille-Havard of Villedieu, while F sharp, E and tenor B are by Paccard of Annecy. In the room below the belfry is the clock which is moved electrically and strikes the hours only.

Organ and gallery

The organ was erected in 1959 by

Henry Willis & Sons Henry Willis & Sons is a British firm of pipe organ builders founded in 1845. Although most of their installations have been in the UK, examples can be found in other countries. Five generations of the Willis family served as principals of th ...

. It is an instrument fully reconditioned with two keyboards and a pedal-board. This vast gallery, extending over the porch and projecting into the nave, is supported by a three arched vault with mouldings at the groins. The arches, at the back, spring from the clustered pillars flanking the tower wall, and, on the front side, from the two last piers of clustered shafts of the nave and from the two circular piers, with mouldings at the base and finely sculptured capitals, which stand in the centre, forming three arches, one large and two small. On top of these runs the sloped cornice with a parapet in three panels of quatrefoil open-work.

Priests in Charge

The Catholic Church, re-established in Jersey in 1793, was under the double direction of Joseph-Dominique de Cheylus, the

Bishop of Bayeux The Diocese of Bayeux and Lisieux (Latin: ''Dioecesis Baiocensis et Lexoviensis''; French: ''Diocèse de Bayeux et Lisieux'') is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in France. It is coextensive with the Department of Calvados and is a ...

, and Augustin-René-Louis Le Mintier, the last

Bishop of Tréguier A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of dioceses. The role ...

, on behalf of the diocese of St. Brieuc. They were helped in their sacred ministry by Rev. Mathieu de Gruchy and a certain number of other priests who administered the sacraments in private oratories.

Priests in charge of French-speaking Catholics from 1803

*J. Philibert - 1803 director of St. Louis Oratory *F. Le Guedois - 1809 director of St. Louis Oratory *J. Morlais - 1837 director of St. Louis Oratory; 1842, Rector of St. Thomas, and Dean *J. Volkerick - 1860 Rector of St. Thomas *M. Morin - 1878 Rector of St. Thomas *V. Bourde - 1880 Rector of St. Thomas *V. Fick - 1885 Rector of St. Thomas *C. Le Vacon, - 1895 Rector of St. Thomas *L. Legrand, - 1899 Rector of St. Thomas *L. Guillient, - 1911 Rector of St. Thomas *A. Mao, - 1920 Rector of St. Thomas *T. Mare, - 1933 Rector of St. Thomas *P. Jon, - 1946 Rector of St. Thomas *H. Verkin, - 1955 Rector of St. Thomas *J. Simon, - 1961 Rector of St. Thomas

The Church today

St. Thomas's is now a church of the Diocese of Portsmouth and is served by diocesan clergy. The church epitomizes Catholicism in counting among its congregation people of many nations and diverse backgrounds. In particular, it is the spiritual home of the considerable number of Portuguese and Polish migrants who in recent years have come to the island to find work. Mass is regularly held in Portuguese,

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 ...

and, only occasionally today,

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

. There is a presbytery and church office adjacent to the church, together with the church hall. On the other side of the church, another refurbished building house
Catholic Pastoral Services
th
Welcome Centre
and the office of the

Society of St. Vincent de Paul The Society of Saint Vincent de Paul (SVP or SVdP or SSVP) is an international voluntary organization in the Catholic Church, founded in 1833 for the service of the poor. Started by Frédéric Ozanam and Emmanuel-Joseph Bailly de Surcy and nam ...

Gallery

File:Saint Thomas Roman Catholic church Jersey 05.jpg, Gargoyle File:Saint Thomas Roman Catholic church Jersey 39.jpg, The Baptismal Font File:Saint Thomas Roman Catholic church Jersey 38.jpg, The Nave File:Saint Thomas Roman Catholic church Jersey 18.jpg, Gargoyle File:Vèrrinne églyise dé Saint Thonmas Jèrri 25.jpg, Rose window File:Vèrrinne églyise dé Saint Thonmas Jèrri 08.jpg, St. Thomas and his message in different languages File:Vèrrinne églyise dé Saint Thonmas Jèrri 23.jpg, Rose window File:Saint Thomas Roman Catholic church Jersey 40.jpg, List of soldiers lost in the First World War File:Saint Thomas Roman Catholic church Jersey 41.jpg, Memorial Altar erected to commemorate the War dead

References

External links

St. Thomas's Church official website

{{Roman Catholic Diocese of Portsmouth Churches in Jersey Roman Catholic churches in Jersey Buildings and structures in Saint Helier Roman Catholic churches completed in 1887