- Early Image of St Philip from 1622
This is one of the oldest images of St Philip, painted in the year of his canonisation, 1622. His reputation for sanctity had spread all over the Catholic world, and the Congregation of the Oratory had begun to grow. Here we have a lifesize fresco in the Church of San Carlo Borromeo at Forio, on the Island of Ischia, in the Bay [...]
- Texts and Prayers for the Feast of John Henry Newman
In preparation for the beatification of John Henry Newman by the Holy Father on 19th September, the Congregation for Divine Worship has issued the texts for the Divine Office of the feast. The reading is taken from the ‘Apologia pro Vita Sua’, which poignantly records his life up to the time of the reception into [...]
- St Luigi Scrosoppi - Patron of those suffering with AIDS
St Luigi Scrosoppi of the Oratory
John Paul II canonised St Luigi Scrosoppi on 10th June 2001, and named him patron saint of those suffering with AIDS. It was at the intercession of St Luigi that an Zambian man, now Fr Peter Changu Shitima, was miraculously cured of AIDS in 1996. He was at that time a member [...]
- Festa di San Vito a Forio
Feast of St Vitus at Forio
Tuesday 15th June
The Silver and Gold Statue of the Saint (with his faithful Border Terrier at his side)
The procession of the relic and image around the parish (in 5 parts)
http://www.ischiareporter.it/?p=3845
Buona Festa!
- Friendship of Saints
St Philip Neri and St Ignatius Loyola
At the west of the Holy Name, facing each other across the breadth of the church, are the statues of St Philip Neri and St Ignatius Loyola. These images that answer each other in the architectural space show not only great saints of the Counter Reformation, the founders of great Religious [...]
- St Philip and the Priesthood
Saint Philip Neri and the Priesthood
Fr Frederick Miller
Since his canonization in 1622, Saint Philip Neri has been considered a model of priestly life and holiness among the clergy of Italy. One might say that Saint Philip has there the popularity [...]
- Blessed Sebastian Valfrè
Bl. Sebastian Valfrè (1629-1710)
Priest of the Turin Oratory
Saturday 30th January
Third Centenary of his Entrance into Heaven
In the year that we look forward to the beatification of John Henry Newman, we celebrate the third centenary of the first of St Philip’s sons to be raised to the altars, Bl. Sebastian Valfrè of the Turin Congregation. This [...]
- Newman on Assenting to Mysteries
Some Help in Assenting to Mysteries of Faith
from John Henry Newman’s
An Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent (1870)
Sunday by Sunday Christians solemnly declare, “I believe in one God”, and a whole set of dogmatic statements which follow from that. The grounds for this statement of faith seems radically inconsistent with the grounds we have for [...]
- Galileo and the Oratory: Science and Faith
Come si vadia al cielo, e non come vadia il cielo
How to go to Heaven: not how the heavens go
It seems a fight that has been going on for centuries; science in the blue corner of the ring and religion in the red corner, and the crowd cheering for their man and booing the opponent. [...]
- New Statue of St Philip
Statue of St Philip Neri
We have been extremely fortunate to have received a beautiful statue of St Philip. It is from the old church of our Lady St Mary and St Philip, Radcliffe in north Manchester. Fr Manock, the parish priest, has built a new church, with a new shrine to St Philip, and he has generously given [...]
The architect was a favourite of the
Jesuits, Joseph Aloysius Hansom, the
inventor of the cab that bears his name.
The church he designed is 14th century
French Gothic in style, but the plan
is typical of a Jesuit city church –
a broad nave, prominent pulpit and a
short sanctuary with the altar near
and in full view of the congregation.
It is 186ft. from east to west, 112ft.
from north to south and 100ft. from
the floor to the inside of the vault.
The structure is brick faced inside
with moulded terracotta and outside
with Warwick Bridge stone. Sir Nikolaus
Pevsner in his introduction to the ‘South
Lancashire’ volume of his ‘Buildings
of England’ series wrote that the Holy
Name ‘is a design of the very highest
quality and of an originality nowhere
demonstrative…….Hansom never again did
so marvellous a church.’
In the sixteenth
century the Spanish saint, Ignatius
of Loyola founded an order called the
Society of Jesus or Jesuits, who were
a powerful force for the reform of the
Catholic Church. They often built large
churches in cities where their influence
could be effective through preaching,
the confessional and parochial work.
They were invited to come to Manchester
by the Bishop of Salford, Rt. Rev. William
Turner in the late 1860’s. The foundation
stone of the Holy Name was laid in 1869
and the church opened on 15th October,
1871.