Saint Chad's Cathedral
Encyclopedia
The Metropolitan Cathedral Church 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 and is dedicated to Saint Chad of Mercia
. Built by Augustus Welby Pugin and substantially complete by 1841, St. Chad's is the earliest building among those Roman Catholic churches that were constructed after the English Reformation
and raised to cathedral status in 1850. It is one of only three minor basilica
s in England (the others being Downside Abbey
and Corpus Christi Priory
, the latter now disused). St. Chad's is a Grade II* listed building. The cathedral is located in a public greenspace near St Chad's Queensway, in central Birmingham
. The current Archbishop is the Most Reverend Bernard Longley. The Cathedral Dean is (since October 2010) the Very Reverend Canon Gerry Breen.
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. 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 convent of Dominican sisters. 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 relic
s of some long bones of 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. 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 itinerant 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 velvet-covered 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. 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. These relics were subjected to carbon dating analysis by the archaeological 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.
The cathedral was situated in the Gunmakers 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').
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. The last 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 led by the Most Reverend Bernard Longley, titular bishop of Zanda, who was named as the Archbishop on 1 October 2009, and was installed in his Cathedral by Bishop David McGough, and presented with his crozier by his predecessor Archbishop Nichols on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, 8 December 2009.
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 on steeply sloping land that fell away to the canal and wharf. Because of the narrow site, and the necessity to build in brick rather than stone, 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
. 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 Lübeck 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, 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 truss
es, 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 Cathedral
s. Phoebe Stanton describes the ornate decoration of the ceiling as "brilliant" and so delicate that "it resembles fabric stretched over a lattice".
Pugin designed many of the fittings including the high altar under an elaborate baldachin
, with riddel posts, and the choir screen. The Bishop's Chair, in oak upholstered in green velvet, backed with the diocesan shield of arms was also designed by Pugin. 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.
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. 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 the Church of the Sacred Heart & St Therese, in Coleshill, was reinstated in the cathedral within the Sanctuary on the instructions of Archbishop Maurice Couve de Murville.
by J. W. Walker & Sons, built in 1993. It is sited at the West end of the Cathedral in a magnificent case designed by David Graebe. It is one of the finest mechanical organs in the Midlands. 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 Principal of the Birmingham Conservatoire) and the Assistant Director of Music is Nigel Morris MA.
, with a line of plainchant along the bottom, being the Introit for the feast of the Immaculate Conception. Currently, 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. About twenty singers lead the worship at the Sunday Solemn Mass (at 11:00 am), usually singing from the West end organ gallery. They also lead the worship during Holy Week and Easter, when the Archbishop presides. The choir specialises in the Latin polyphonic music of the renaissance, but sings a wide repertory of Masses and motets in English and Latin. The Choir sings occasional concerts and an annual ecumenical Advent Carol Service with its Anglican opposite number from St Philip's Cathedral, Birmingham.
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 . 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.
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).
Mother Church
In Christianity, the term mother church or Mother Church may have one of the following meanings:# The first mission church in an area, or a pioneer cathedral# A basilica or cathedral# The main chapel of a province of a religious order...
of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham and province of the Catholic Church in Great Britain and is dedicated to Saint Chad of Mercia
Chad of Mercia
Chad was a prominent 7th century Anglo-Saxon churchman, who became abbot of several monasteries, Bishop of the Northumbrians and subsequently Bishop of the Mercians and Lindsey People. He was later canonized as a saint. He was the brother of Cedd, also a saint...
. Built by Augustus Welby Pugin and substantially complete by 1841, St. Chad's is the earliest building among those Roman Catholic churches that were constructed after the English Reformation
English Reformation
The English Reformation was the series of events in 16th-century England by which the Church of England broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church....
and raised to cathedral status in 1850. It is one of only three minor basilica
Basilica
The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building, usually located in the forum of a Roman town. Public basilicas began to appear in Hellenistic cities in the 2nd century BC.The term was also applied to buildings used for religious purposes...
s in England (the others being Downside Abbey
Downside Abbey
The Basilica of St Gregory the Great at Downside, commonly known as Downside Abbey, is a Roman Catholic Benedictine monastery and the Senior House of the English Benedictine Congregation. One of its main apostolates is a school for children aged nine to eighteen...
and Corpus Christi Priory
Corpus Christi Priory
Corpus Christi Priory was a Roman Catholic Premonstratensian priory in Manchester, England. Norbertine Canons Regular first came to Manchester in 1889 from the Belgian Abbey of Tongerlo and in the Miles Platting area of Manchester built Corpus Christi Basilica which they served until 2007 when...
, the latter now disused). St. Chad's is a Grade II* listed building. The cathedral is located in a public greenspace near St Chad's Queensway, in central Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
. The current Archbishop is the Most Reverend Bernard Longley. The Cathedral Dean is (since October 2010) the Very Reverend Canon Gerry Breen.
History
St Chad's was the first Catholic cathedral erected in England after the English ReformationEnglish Reformation
The English Reformation was the series of events in 16th-century England by which the Church of England broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church....
initiated in 1534 by King Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
. St Chad's Cathedral was built at the behest of Bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
Thomas Walsh, the local apostolic vicar
Apostolic vicariate
An apostolic vicariate is a form of territorial jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Church established in missionary regions and countries that do not have a diocese. It is essentially provisional, though it may last for a century or more...
(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. The church was raised to the status of cathedral in 1850 by Pope Pius IX
Pope Pius IX
Blessed Pope Pius IX , born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, was the longest-reigning elected Pope in the history of the Catholic Church, serving from 16 June 1846 until his death, a period of nearly 32 years. During his pontificate, he convened the First Vatican Council in 1869, which decreed papal...
, when Catholic dioceses were re-established
Universalis Ecclesiae
Universalis Ecclesiae is the incipit of the papal bull of 29 September 1850 by which Pope Pius IX recreated the Roman Catholic diocesan hierarchy in England, which had been extinguished with the death of the last Marian bishop in the reign of Elizabeth I. New names were given to the dioceses, as...
in England. The first Bishop of Birmingham was William Bernard Ullathorne
William Bernard Ullathorne
William Bernard Ullathorne was an English Roman Catholic bishop and a missionary in Australia.-Early life:William Ullathorne was born in Pocklington, Yorkshire, the eldest of ten children of William Ullathorne, a prosperous grocer, draper and spirit merchant, and his wife Hannah, née Longstaff...
OSB
Order of Saint Benedict
The Order of Saint Benedict is a Roman Catholic religious order of independent monastic communities that observe the Rule of St. Benedict. Within the order, each individual community maintains its own autonomy, while the organization as a whole exists to represent their mutual interests...
, whose monument is the Crypt of the Cathedral. He was buried at St Dominic's Priory, Stone, a convent of Dominican sisters. In 1911 the diocese was elevated to an archdiocese.
The patron of the cathedral is St Chad, a 7th century Bishop of Mercia
Mercia
Mercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands...
and pupil of St Aidan of Lindisfarne
Lindisfarne
Lindisfarne is a tidal island off the north-east coast of England. It is also known as Holy Island and constitutes a civil parish in Northumberland...
. The cathedral enshrines, in the canopy above the altar
Altar
An altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices are made for religious purposes. Altars are usually found at shrines, and they can be located in temples, churches and other places of worship...
, the relic
Relic
In religion, a relic is a part of the body of a saint or a venerated person, or else another type of ancient religious object, carefully preserved for purposes of veneration or as a tangible memorial...
s of some long bones of St Chad. These were originally enshrined at, and rescued from, Lichfield Cathedral
Lichfield Cathedral
Lichfield Cathedral is situated in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England. It is the only medieval English cathedral with three spires. The Diocese of Lichfield covers all of Staffordshire, much of Shropshire and part of the Black Country and West Midlands...
by Prebendary Arthur Dudley, before its despoilation during the Reformation, in about 1538. 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 itinerant 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 velvet-covered 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. 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. These relics were subjected to carbon dating analysis by the archaeological 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.
The cathedral was situated in the Gunmakers 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').
In 1941 St Chad's was declared a Minor Basilica by Pope Pius XII
Pope Pius XII
The Venerable Pope Pius XII , born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli , reigned as Pope, head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City State, from 2 March 1939 until his death in 1958....
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. The last Archbishop was His Grace the Most Reverend Vincent Nichols, who served from 2000-9, and is now Archbishop of Westminster. The Archdiocese of Birmingham
Archdiocese of Birmingham
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham is one of the principal Latin-rite Catholic administrative divisions of England and Wales in the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church....
is currently led by the Most Reverend Bernard Longley, titular bishop of Zanda, who was named as the Archbishop on 1 October 2009, and was installed in his Cathedral by Bishop David McGough, and presented with his crozier by his predecessor Archbishop Nichols on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, 8 December 2009.
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. 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.Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
. St Chad's is built in the style of a brick
Brick Gothic
Brick Gothic is a specific style of Gothic architecture common in Northern Europe, especially in Northern Germany and the regions around the Baltic Sea that do not have natural rock resources. The buildings are essentially built from bricks...
hall church
Hall church
A hall church is a church with nave and side aisles of approximately equal height, often united under a single immense roof. The term was first coined in the mid-19th century by the pioneering German art historian Wilhelm Lübke....
or "hallenkirke", similar to Munich Cathedral
Munich Frauenkirche
The Frauenkirche is a church in the Bavarian city of Munich that serves as the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising and seat of its Archbishop. It is a landmark and is considered a symbol of the Bavarian capital city.The church towers are widely visible because of local height...
and has a westwerk with narrow broached spires similar to those of Lübeck Cathedral
Lübeck Cathedral
The Lübeck Cathedral is a large brick Lutheran cathedral in Lübeck, Germany and part of Lübeck's world heritage. It was started in 1173 by Henry the Lion as a cathedral for the Bishop of Lübeck. It was partly destroyed in a bombing raid in World War II , and later reconstructed. The organ by Arp...
. 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, 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
Helix
A helix is a type of smooth space curve, i.e. a curve in three-dimensional space. It has the property that the tangent line at any point makes a constant angle with a fixed line called the axis. Examples of helixes are coil springs and the handrails of spiral staircases. A "filled-in" helix – for...
pattern like a barber's pole
Barber's pole
A barber's pole is a type of sign used by barbers to signify the place or shop where they perform their craft. The trade sign is, by a tradition dating back to the Middle Ages, a staff or pole with a helix of colored stripes...
, bearing the legend Sanctus Sanctus Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth ('Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts') . The wooden ceiling, with curving blue truss
Truss
In architecture and structural engineering, a truss is a structure comprising one or more triangular units constructed with straight members whose ends are connected at joints referred to as nodes. External forces and reactions to those forces are considered to act only at the nodes and result in...
es, is ornamented with monograms and floral patterns, inspired by the remnants of medieval decoration to be found on the ancient ceilings of Ely
Ely Cathedral
Ely Cathedral is the principal church of the Diocese of Ely, in Cambridgeshire, England, and is the seat of the Bishop of Ely and a suffragan bishop, the Bishop of Huntingdon...
and Peterborough Cathedral
Peterborough Cathedral
Peterborough Cathedral, properly the Cathedral Church of St Peter, St Paul and St Andrew – also known as Saint Peter's Cathedral in the United Kingdom – is the seat of the Bishop of Peterborough, dedicated to Saint Peter, Saint Paul and Saint Andrew, whose statues look down from the...
s. Phoebe Stanton describes the ornate decoration of the ceiling as "brilliant" and so delicate that "it resembles fabric stretched over a lattice".
Pugin designed many of the fittings including the high altar under an elaborate baldachin
Baldachin
A baldachin, or baldaquin , is a canopy of state over an altar or throne. It had its beginnings as a cloth canopy, but in other cases it is a sturdy, permanent architectural feature, particularly over high altars in cathedrals, where such a structure is more correctly called a ciborium when it is...
, with riddel posts, and the choir screen. The Bishop's Chair, in oak upholstered in green velvet, backed with the diocesan shield of arms was also designed by Pugin. Other fittings, such the 16th century carved pulpit and the medieval canons' stalls were from churches in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
respectively and were collected and donated by John Talbot, the sixteenth Earl of Shrewsbury
Earl of Shrewsbury
Earl of Shrewsbury is a hereditary title of nobility created twice in the peerage of England.-First creation, 1074:The first creation occurred in 1074 for Roger de Montgomerie, one of William the Conqueror's principal counselors...
. The sanctuary
Sanctuary
A sanctuary is any place of safety. They may be categorized into human and non-human .- Religious sanctuary :A religious sanctuary can be a sacred place , or a consecrated area of a church or temple around its tabernacle or altar.- Sanctuary as a sacred place :#Sanctuary as a sacred place:#:In...
windows are the work of William Warrington
William Warrington
William Warrington, , was an English maker of stained glass windows. His firm, operating from 1832 to 1875, was one of the earliest of the English Medieval revival and served clients such as Norwich and Peterborough Cathedrals...
. Other windows, metalwork, fittings and vestments were provided by John Hardman
Hardman & Co.
Hardman & Co., otherwise John Hardman Trading Co., Ltd., founded 1838, began manufacturing stained glass in 1844 and became one of the world's leading manufacturers of stained glass and ecclesiastical fittings...
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.
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
Edward Ilsley
Edward Ilsley became the first Roman Catholic Archbishop of Birmingham on 27 November 1911, having previously been the third Bishop of Birmingham since 17 November 1888. The correct spelling is Ilsley, not Illsley.He was born in Stafford on 11 May 1838. He was ordained priest on 29 June 1861...
and his patron St Edward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor also known as St. Edward the Confessor , son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy, was one of the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England and is usually regarded as the last king of the House of Wessex, ruling from 1042 to 1066....
. 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. 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 the Church of the Sacred Heart & St Therese, in Coleshill, was reinstated in the cathedral within the Sanctuary on the instructions of Archbishop Maurice Couve de Murville.
Organ
The cathedral has a three manual organOrgan (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
by J. W. Walker & Sons, built in 1993. It is sited at the West end of the Cathedral in a magnificent case designed by David Graebe. It is one of the finest mechanical organs in the Midlands. 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 Principal of the Birmingham Conservatoire) and the Assistant Director of Music is Nigel Morris MA.
Directors of Music
- 1848 - ???? Meyer Lutz
- 1850s Johann Benz
- 1940s Henry Washington
- 1964-1968 Roger M. Hill
- 1969-1972 Derek Stanley
- 1972-1978 Dr John Harper
- 1978- Prof David Saint
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 ConceptionImmaculate Conception
The Immaculate Conception of Mary is a dogma of the Roman Catholic Church, according to which the Virgin Mary was conceived without any stain of original sin. It is one of the four dogmata in Roman Catholic Mariology...
, with a line of plainchant along the bottom, being the Introit for the feast of the Immaculate Conception. Currently, 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. About twenty singers lead the worship at the Sunday Solemn Mass (at 11:00 am), usually singing from the West end organ gallery. They also lead the worship during Holy Week and Easter, when the Archbishop presides. The choir specialises in the Latin polyphonic music of the renaissance, but sings a wide repertory of Masses and motets in English and Latin. The Choir sings occasional concerts and an annual ecumenical Advent Carol Service with its Anglican opposite number from St Philip's Cathedral, Birmingham.
Bells
In 1840 St Chad's was presented with a single bell weighing approximately 20 long cwt (1,016 kg). In 1848 the metal from this bell was used in the casting of a ring of five bells, made by Mears of WhitechapelWhitechapel Bell Foundry
The Whitechapel Bell Foundry is a bell foundry in Whitechapel in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, in the East End of London. The foundry is listed by the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest manufacturing company in Great Britain...
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 . 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.
Location
The cathedral is in a green public space near Birmingham Snow Hill stationBirmingham Snow Hill station
Birmingham Snow Hill is a railway station and tram stop in the centre of Birmingham, England, on the site of an earlier, much larger station built by the former Great Western Railway . It is the second most important railway station in the city, after Birmingham New Street 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
- Dormition of the Mother of God and St Andrew (Greek OrthodoxEastern Orthodox ChurchThe Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
) - St Philip's (Church of EnglandChurch of EnglandThe Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
)