St. Chad's Cathedral, Birmingham
| St. Chad's Cathedral, Birmingham | |
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  Shown within the West Midlands
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| Basic information | |
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| Location | Birmingham |
| Full name | The Metropolitan Cathedral & Basilica of St Chad |
| Geographic coordinates | 52°29′08″N 1°53′55″W / 52.4855°N 1.8986°W / 52.4855; -1.8986Coordinates: 52°29′08″N 1°53′55″W / 52.4855°N 1.8986°W / 52.4855; -1.8986 |
| County | West Midlands |
| Country | England |
| Ecclesiastical information | |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| Province | Birmingham |
| Diocese | Birmingham |
| Diocese created | 1850 |
| Bishop | Sede Vacante |
| Director of Music |
Professor David Saint |
| Website | www.stchadscathedral.org.uk |
| Building information | |
| Dates built | 1839-1841 |
| Year consecrated | 1841 |
| Architect(s) | Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin |
The Metropolitan Cathedral and Basilica of Saint Chad is the Mother Church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham and province of the Catholic Church in Great Britain. The Cathedral, which dedicated to Saint Chad of Mercia, was the first Roman Catholic cathedral to be built after the English Reformation. It is one of only three minor basilicas in England (the others being Downside Abbey and Corpus Christi Priory, now disused). Built by Augustus Welby Pugin in 1839-41, it is a Grade II* listed building. The Cathedral is located in a public greenspace near St Chad's Queenway, in central Birmingham. The Cathedral Dean is the Very Reverend Canon Patrick Browne.
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History
St Chad's was the first Catholic cathedral erected in England after the English Reformation initiated in 1534 by King Henry VIII. St Chad's Cathedral was built at the behest of Bishop Thomas Walsh, the local apostolic vicar (styled Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District). St Chad's Cathedral was designed by Augustus Welby Pugin, the foundation stone was laid in October 1839 and the building consecrated as a church on 21 June 1841.[1] The church was raised to the status of cathedral in 1850 by Pope Pius IX, when Catholic dioceses were re-established in England. The first Bishop of Birmingham was William Bernard Ullathorne OSB, whose monument is the Crypt of the Cathedral. He was buried at St Dominic's Priory, Stone, a Benedictine foundation. In 1911 the diocese was elevated to an archdiocese.
The patron of the cathedral is St Chad, a 7th century Bishop of Mercia and pupil of St Aidan of Lindisfarne. The cathedral enshrines, in the canopy above the altar, the relics of some long bones of the St Chad. These were originally enshrined at, and rescued from, Lichfield Cathedral by Prebendary Arthur Dudley, before its despoilation during the Reformation, in about 1538.[2] Fr Dudley passed the bones to his nieces, Bridget and Katherine Dudley of Russell's Hall, whence they were divided in parcels and passed down among their family. In 1651, Henry Hodgetts, a farmer, of Sedgley was dying and his wife summoned an itinerent priest, Fr Peter Turner SJ to gave him the last sacraments. When they recited the litany of the saints, Henry kept calling upon Saint Chad, pray for me. On being asked why he called upon St Chad, he replied, "because his bones are in the head of my bed". He then instructed his wife to pass the box of relics to Fr Turner for safekeeping and he took them back to the Seminary of St Omer, in Northern France, where he was based. In the nineteenth Century, the relics found their way into the hands of Sir Thomas Fizherbert-Brockholes of Aston Hall, near Stafford. After Sir Thomas's death, his widow moved to a smaller residence and their chaplain, Fr Benjamin Hulme found the dusty box of relics under the altar, when he cleared out the chapel. Fr Hulme presented the relics to Bishop Walsh, who was in the process of deciding upon a suitable patronal dedication for his new Cathedral.[citation needed] So it was that the relics of the Saint who was the apostle of the Midlands in the seventh Century were enshrined above the Altar. It is the only Cathedral in England which has the relics of its Patron Saint above the Altar.[citation needed] These relics were subjected to carbon dating analysis by the Archeological Laboratory of Oxford University in 1985, on the order of Archbishop Couve de Murville, which showed all, but one, of the bones to date from the seventh century, which concurs with the death of St Chad on 2 March 672 AD.[citation needed]
The cathedral was situated in the Gun Quarter of Birmingham, which endangered it during the Second World War. It was bombed on 22 November 1940. An incendiary bomb fell through the roof of the South aisle and bounced from the floor into some central heating pipes, which then burst. The water from the damaged central heating pipes thus extinguished the fire. A thanksgiving tablet appears in the diapered design of the transept ceiling, reading Deo Gratias 22 Nov 1940 (Thanks be to God and date).
In 1941 St Chad's was declared a Minor Basilica by Pope Pius XII as a church of important historical connections: only one of two such in England. On formal occasions, the tintinnabulum, a golden lattice bell tower and conopaeum, which is a small red and gold striped umbrella, are displayed at the altar steps as the official symbols of a basilica.[2] The latest Archbishop was His Grace the Most Reverend Vincent Nichols, who served from 2000-9, and is now Archbishop of Westminster. The Archdiocese of Birmingham is currently sede vacante, awaiting a successor.
Architecture and fittings
The architect chosen to design St Chad's was to become one of England's most renowned Gothic Revival architects, Augustus Welby Pugin (1812-52). Pugin had recently converted to Roman Catholicism in 1835, and spent most of the remainder of his working life designing Catholic churches, their fittings and vestments. St Chad's was the first large church that he designed which was planned, from the outset in 1837, to become a cathedral.[1] Pugin lavished much care on the building, and described, in his letters, not only the architecture, but its decoration, fittings and furnishings. The Clerk of Works and builder of St Chad's was George Myers.
St Chad's replaced a smaller church dedicated to St Austin, built on the same site in 1808, in the Gunmakers' Quarter of the town and on steeply sloping land that fell away to the canal and wharf.[3] Because of the narrow site, and the necessity to build in brick rather than stone, the architect, Augustus Welby Pugin, was restricted in the style and proportions of the church that he could design. Because he wished to make the church as open and spacious as possible, he looked as a model to the style of churches that were built in Northern Germany in the late Middle Ages.[1] St Chad's is built in the style of a brick hall church or "hallenkirke", similar to Munich Cathedral and has a westwerk with narrow broached spires similar to those of Lubeck Cathedral. Because of the steep slope of the site, Pugin built a large crypt beneath the building, to be used primarily as a burial place for family tombs.[1], and former cathedral clergy, and is now rehearsal room for the Choir.
The interior, the nave of which is almost twice as high as it is wide, has a very high arcade, like German hall churches, carried on clusters of thin shafts, those of the chancel being decorated in paint and gold leaf with a helical pattern like a barber's pole, bearing the legend Sanctus Sanctus Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth (Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts) . The wooden ceiling, with curving blue trusses, is ornamented with monograms and floral patterns, inspired by the remnants of medieval decoration to be found on the ancient ceilings of Ely and Peterborough Cathedrals. Phoebe Stanton describes the ornate decoration of the ceiling as "brilliant" and so delicate that "it resembles fabric stretched over a lattice".[1]
Pugin designed many of the fittings including the high altar under an elaborate baldachin, with riddel posts, and the choir screen. Other fittings, such the 16th century carved pulpit and the medieval canons' stalls were from churches in Belgium and Germany respectively and were collected and donated by John Talbot, the sixteenth Earl of Shrewsbury. The sanctuary windows are the work of William Warrington. Other windows, metalwork, fittings and vestments were provided by John Hardman of Birmingham, to the design or specifications of Pugin. Hardman was a parishioner of St Chad's, founding the Cathedral Choir in 1854. Four generations of his family are among those interred in the crypt.[2]
In 1932, St Chad's was extended by the addition of St Edward's Chapel, designed by Pugin's grandson, Sebastian Pugin Powell, and built in memory of Archbishop Edward Ilsley and his patron St Edward the Confessor. The Chapel windows depict the history of the relics of St Chad, and those who have served the church there, along with some magnificent ecclesiastical coats of arms. In the 1960s, a number of the fittings, including Pugin's screen, were removed and the interior repainted, to the detriment of the original design.[1][3] The rood screen was re-erected in the Anglican Parish Church of Holy Trinity, Reading. Other artifacts were removed to other churches, including the giant rood crucifix, which after its removal to Coleshill Church, was reinstated in the Cathedral, on the instructions of Archbishop Maurice Couve de Murville.
Music
Organ
The cathedral has a three manual organ by J. W. Walker & Sons, built in 1993. It is one of the finest mechanical organs in the Midlands.[2] There is a regular programme of recitals throughout the year given by distinguished organists. The current Organist and Director of Music is Professor David Saint BA, BMus, FRCO (the Vice-Principal of the Birmingham Conservatoire) and the Assistant Director of Music is Nigel Morris MA.
Choir
The Cathedral has had a properly-constituted surpliced choir since 1854, when it was first endowed with £1000 by John Hardman. Hardman was for many years Cantor of the choir, and is commemorated by a small white figure of him in the lower left-hand corner of a stained glass window of 1868 located in the North aisle and depicting the Immaculate Conception, with a line of plainchant along the bottom. The four-part, robed choir comprises adult men and women who are mainly students of the Birmingham Conservatoire, which is part of Birmingham City University. The choir of about twenty singers leads the worship at the Sunday Solemn Mass (at 11:00 am), usually from the west end Organ Gallery. They lead the worship on weekdays during Holy Week and Easter, when the Archbishop presides. The Choir specialises in the Latin polyphonic music of the renaissance, but sing a wide repertory of Masses and motets.
Bells
In 1840 St Chad's was presented with a single bell weighing approximately 20 long cwt (2,200 lb; 1,000 kg). In 1848 the metal from this bell was used in the casting of a ring of five bells, made by Mears of Whitechapel and hung in the north-west tower. They were augmented by three bells by Blews of Birmingham in 1877. The eight bells were first rung on Easter Sunday of that year. In 1940 the bells were recast by Taylors of Loughborough. The eight bells form a diatonic octave in the key of F Major, with the heaviest bell (the tenor) weighing 15 cwt 3 qtr 6 lb (1,770 lb/803 kg). They are hung for full-circle ringing in the north-west tower, and are rung regularly on Sunday morning after High Mass, at about 12 noon, and at other major services by the St Chad's Cathedral Society of Change Ringers.[2]
Location
The Cathedral is in a green public space near Birmingham Snow Hill station and is located on what is now called St Chad's Queensway after the cathedral, at the junction with Snow Hill Queensway and Old Snow Hill (becomes Constitution Hill), part of the Birmingham Inner Ring Road constructed in 1970s. St Chad's is on the northern side of the road, which divides the cathedral from the city centre.
The nearest bus stops are on Snow Hill Queensway opposite, Old Snow Hill and under the nearby Snow Hill station railway bridge to the east on Great Charles Street Queensway. Metered car parking is available outside the cathedral, behind the Cathedral in Shadwell Street, and also on the opposite side of St Chad's Queensway, where there is also an NCP car park next to the Thistle Birmingham Central Hotel (formerly known as the Angus Hotel).
See also
- Catholic Church in Great Britain
- St Philip's (Church of England)
- Dormition of the Mother of God and St Andrew (Greek Orthodox)
- List of Organ Scholars of St Chad's Cathedral, Birmingham
References
Bibliography
- Tim Tatton-Brown and John Crook, The English Cathedral, New Holland (2002), ISBN 1843301202
- Phoebe Stanton, Pugin, Thames and Hudson (1971), ISBN 0500270163
External links
- History of the Cathedral
- The Archdiocese of Birmingham
- Description of the organ in the National Pipe Organ Register
- Local newspaper article about plans for the Cathedral's setting
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