The Church Index / A Book of Metropolitan Churches and Church Enterprise: Part I. Kensington

by William Pepperell

THE PRO-CATHEDRAL, KENSINGTON.

The Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady of Victories, commonly called the Pro-Cathedral, situate in Newland-terrace, Kensington, is a very fine, yet simple structure in early English style of Gothic architecture; but is so hidden by the houses behind which it has been placed that the real effect of the building is lost, and one can therefore only make a guess at the probable general appearance. The building is sufficiently lofty, however, to be easily seen from a distance, and its high-pitched and crested roof, with miniature angled and decorated spire, breaks up the sky line somewhat pleasingly. Upon closer inspection the north front (the church is built N. and S.) possesses some very excellent detail. The centre doorway is double, recessed and handsomely treated with polished granite shafts, and the doors are surmounted by a seated figure of the Saviour. The buttresses with ancient pinnacles are effective, and the general treatment of this front, though executed in simple brick and stone, is very bold. The architecture of the interior is also very boldly treated, and even more than the outside is strikingly plain—one might say white. This is accounted for by the absence of stained glass and coloured decorations of any kind, a defect which we understand is now about to be remedied. There are six altars besides the high altar. Looking up the nave towards the latter, the effect is certainly very good, and the polished granite columns and carved stone caps surmounted by the lofty arcade and clerestory and simple roof together make up a very excellent interior. The chancel is apsidal and has a groined ceiling, and is lighted by a very plain window on each side of the apse. The aisles are interspersed with the altars and confessionals, and the altar to the Virgin has an elaborate reredos, over which are various figures, the centre one being, as the Roman Catholics say, “Our Lady.” The organ, a very fine one, is mounted on granite columns at the north end of the nave, and is approached by a rather awkward open and spiral staircase, and the columns are confusing, which we do not think adds to the good effect of the church. The font is very nice indeed and carved in relief; on the four sides are the emblems of the Evangelists; it has a handsome oak cover, but, like the building itself, is lost in a corner. The benches are very plain, and the aisles are intended to be filled with chairs. The pulpit is enormous, and we must say unsightly; and the gas standards, like the pulpit, strike one as being too large, and appear to offer great obstruction to sight and sound.

The movement for a new Roman Catholic Church in Kensington began about six years ago, on account of the small dimensions of the former chapel in Upper Holland-street. The area of the latter was 71 ft. by 21 ft., that of the new church 144 ft. by 58 ft., making a difference of 6,861 square feet area; and the architect, J. Goldie, Esq., has made good use of the space at his disposal. There are 820 seats, of which 180 are free. The pews in the centre have 470 seats; the sides are occupied by chairs, and those on the right are free. By an extension of the same system, the church can accommodate about 1,100 persons. The works were commenced in 1867, and the church opened on July 2nd, 1869. The total cost, including the organ, is about 27,000l. Of this a considerable portion remains as a debt; which circumstance will prevent a most desirable improvement in the entry from the main road for some time to come. At the opening Dr. Manning made it his Pro-Cathedral—i.e., the church which he would use instead of a cathedral, until his own should be finished. The enterprise has been much assisted by the Very Rev. Mgr. Capel, the Travelling Chaplain of the Marquis of Bute, and the present principal priest of the church. The other clergy attached are the Rev. R. F. Clarke and the Rev. James O’Connell.

Intending to visit the church on Easter Sunday morning, we made a preliminary visit on Saturday afternoon. Although busy preparations were going on for the great ceremonial to follow, it was open for worship; and during our stay, from five to half-past six p.m., a considerable number came and went for prayer and confession, sprinkling themselves with the holy water from the vases both on entering and retiring, and bowing the knee towards the high altar. The majority of the comers were females, many of them young; but not a few older women, and some both young and old of the other sex. Those who intended confession gathered near the “confession boxes,” of which there are two. The one most in request was that on the east side, occupied, as confessor, by the Rev. Monseigneur Capel. The other, on the north side, was held by the Rev. Mr. O’Connell. A number of young persons on their knees awaited opportunity near the former and some near the latter. The box or cell known as the Confessional is a small wooden structure, fixed against the wall, having three niches concealed by curtains. In the centre one sits the confessor, his surplice being just visible where the curtains should join over the dwarf door; and on either side a niche into which the penitent enters, communicated with by the priest through a grated aperture. The visitor gently taps at this, and the confessor listens to hear the whispered complaint, and whispers back his reply, his queries, his comfort or admonition. Most that entered within the curtain were young women, apparently of the servant class, but to this there were a few exceptions, and in one instance a young man entered. As we tarried a great lady came, closely followed by her footman in powdered wig. It was the Countess of —, known in West-end circles during the London season. She has a handsome presence, and entered the church with a cheerful, beaming countenance. Addressing an instruction to her servant, he went to a small side chapel near the chancel, and soon returned with a young dark official in a dingy cassock, who might have been taken for an ardent Carmelite under all the depression of protracted fasting and bodily neglect. To him the Countess gave a note or a card, which he deposited with Mgr. Capel at the Confessional. Shortly both priests left their boxes and walked up the centre aisle to the side chapel, the Countess following. In about fifteen minutes they returned, and the lady took her departure. She was much altered in countenance, looking sad and discomposed.

On Easter Sunday—the great day of all the days in the year with the Catholics—at eleven a.m., commenced the performance of High Mass, and Archbishop Manning, as announced, was present, and preached the sermon. The church was well attended, but not crowded. There was no rush to obtain the “shilling” or “six-penny” seats, and a large number remained unlet to the end. This charge for the seats probably kept many out; but it is understood to be a necessary measure, in consequence of the heavy debt on the place, the large current expenses of the services, and the general poverty of the people. In the congregation were several notabilities; and far up towards the chancel the white hair and expressive features of Mr. Bellew, the well-known dramatic reader, were visible. He was until recently a clergyman in the Church of England, and is now a layman in the Romish Church at this place. It was impossible to repress a reflection on the score that the public reader in the pew and the principal actor in the scene were both during the better half of their days ministers in the Protestant Establishment. The first view of the ceremony revealed a crowd of priests and mass attendants variously arrayed and employed. One faced the altar at a little distance, swinging a censer vessel, to the time and motion of the pendulum of a clock. During the ceremony he appeared several times in the same position and act. A number, grouped round the Archbishop on his throne, having a gorgeous canopy and draped in scarlet and amber, were very busy in adjusting their vestments. The movements, to the uninitiated, might seem a simple toilette operation, but were really part and parcel of the ceremony, every one having a symbolical allusion to the events of the commemoration. Even the style and colour of the dresses were charmed by occult references, not traceable to the outsider. Taking off the Archbishop’s mitre and replacing the tall cloven covering on his head, which occurred several times, was a great formality, performed by a priest with the most tender and reverent care, all the others devoutly witnessing. The rising and stepping forth of the Archbishop, with his huge silver crook, to bow or prostrate himself before the altar, and to adore the sacrifice, were luminous points of interest, and brought into view a tout ensemble and tinsel of ornate worship never to be witnessed, except at High Mass in a Romish Church. To describe all the acts of this most intricate and complicate ceremonial would not be possible in this article. The flitting of acolytes with candles, the processions, the swinging of censers filled with incense, until the altar and chancel were enveloped in a cloud; the wafting of the perfume to the congregation till it reached the very limits of the church; kissing the altar, and all the mysterious movements thereat; the changes of books, the brief Latin recitations, the tinkling of bells, the elevation of the Host, all allied with perpetual animation, make up a whole which it is difficult, indeed, either to describe or understand. To witness it lays very large demands both upon the patience and gravity of ordinary mortals, and is liable to trouble even the conscience of a genuine Protestant.

The choir accompanied the performance with the grand music of Mozart’s 7th Mass, Herr Carl Stepan singing the principal bass with admirable effect, and the treble being well sustained by the boys. The organist is R. Sutton Swaby, Esq., of Gordon-cottages, Hammersmith. This instrument, built by Messrs. Bryceson Bros., is classed among the finest of the day. It has four manuals and a powerful pedal organ. In all there are fifty-four stops, and the solo stops, including the voix celeste and the voix humaine, are considered particularly fine. Mr. Swaby is master of a very superior instrument, and feels pleasure on Sunday evenings after service in giving the people an opportunity of hearing its different effects by playing a short selection of music in varied styles. On Sunday morning the offertory was accompanied with the Hæc Dies, and the Hallelujah Chorus formed a grand voluntary at the end. During the execution of this the Archbishop, crook in hand, the priests, and altar servants formed and walked in procession down the centre aisle and round the church to the side chapel, preceded by the acolytes with candles. The prelate waved his hand as he went in token of blessing the people, and the chief priests bore his train. Dr. Manning appeared in the closing scene to move feebly and to be well-nigh exhausted.

The sermon came in the midst of the service, a procession escorting the Archbishop to the pulpit. On reaching it, turning to the priests in the rear, he delivered to one his crook, and bowing his head another took off his mitre, and, wishing to be free from all impediments, he handed to them the book-rest and book, and, advancing to the front bareheaded and without book or paper, commenced an extempore discourse on John xi. 25: “I am the Resurrection and the Life.” Although somewhat aged of late, the Doctor retains remarkable strength and clearness of voice. As to the doctrine of the sermon, it was in the main in unison with the requirements of the Christian pulpit, being a review of the Saviour’s humanity in his incarnation, suffering, death, and resurrection. This latter event was most graphically portrayed in its various circumstances, and in the Christian’s hopes and interests which centre in it, in that chaste and elegant language for which the Archbishop is noted. The course of remark offered an opportunity for putting forward some of the distinguishing dogmas of Popery, but the preacher did not seem to avail himself of it. Having, however, done with the text and its doctrines, he launched into political questions connected with the Papacy. An article had appeared on the previous day in the Times treating of their services on Good Friday; and admonishing the Catholics to fall in with the course of “modern civilisation.” This the Archbishop called a “petulant, senseless, and clamorous” article; and stigmatised “modern civilisation” as the “world going its own course, without God, Christ, or religion.” He inveighed keenly upon this point, referring to the present and past condition of Paris as the “centre of so-called modern civilisation,” and confidently predicted that the temporal power of the Pope, which had been so wickedly assailed, could never be shaken. By that he meant not the mere possession of “a bit of land,” but “that independence of all earthly power and control with which the Vicar of Christ was invested.”

The Roman Catholic population of Kensington is from 1,800 to 2,000, a large proportion being of the poorer classes and principally the Irish residents. Three poor schools are supported—a boys’ school in Upper Holland-street, educating about 70 or 80; a girls’ and infant school in Earl’s-court, educating about 50; of which more than half are reported to be Protestants; the third school (girls’ and infants’) is by Kensington-square, with about 150 children. There are no district churches attached; but the clergy supply the convent in Kensington-square.

The congregation at the Pro-Cathedral is said to have greatly increased since the opening; and the collections now reach an average of 30l. per Sunday.