The Church of Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory is a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

church on Warwick Street,

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...

. It was formerly known as the Royal Bavarian Chapel, because like several Catholic churches in London it originated as a chapel within a foreign embassy. It was built between 1789 and 1790 to the designs of

Joseph Bonomi the Elder Joseph Bonomi the Elder (19 January 17399 March 1808) was an Italian architect and draughtsman who spent most of his career in England where he became a successful designer of country houses. Biography He was born Giuseppe Bonomi in Rome on 19 ...

. The only surviving eighteenth-century Catholic chapel in London, it is a

Grade II* In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. The parish is now operated by the

Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in England and Wales is a personal ordinariate in the Latin Church of the Catholic Church immediately exempt, being directly subject to the Holy See. It is within the territory of the Catholic B ...

, the British

personal ordinariate A personal ordinariate for former Anglicans, shortened as personal ordinariate or Anglican ordinariate,"...the liturgies approved for the Anglican ordinariates..." "Bishop Stephen Lopes of the Anglican Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter..." ...

for

Anglican Use The Anglican Use is an officially approved form of liturgy used by former members of the Anglican Communion who joined the Catholic Church while wishing to maintain "aspects of the Anglican patrimony that are of particular value". The use's m ...

worship within the Catholic Church.

History

The origins of the church lie in the chapel established in the 1730s at the Portuguese Embassy on 24

Golden Square Golden Square, in Soho, the City of Westminster, London, is a mainly hardscaped garden square planted with a few mature trees and raised borders in Central London flanked by classical office buildings. Its four approach ways are north and sou ...

. At this time, with the

English Penal Laws In English history, the penal laws were a series of laws that sought to uphold the establishment of the Church of England against Catholicism and Protestant nonconformists by imposing various forfeitures, civil penalties, and civil disabilities ...

in force, most Roman Catholic chapels existed under the protection, and within the precincts, of foreign embassies. Responsibility for the chapel passed to the Bavarian embassy in 1747 but it was destroyed in the Gordon Riots in 1780. The replacement church was designed by

, an Italian architect and draughtsman, who had moved to London in 1767 to work in the practice of

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

and James Adam. Prayers continued to be said for the King of Bavaria, and the church described as the Royal Bavarian Chapel, until 1871. The church has attracted many prominent Catholic worshippers, including

Mrs Fitzherbert Maria Anne Fitzherbert (''née'' Smythe, previously Weld; 26 July 1756 – 27 March 1837) was a longtime companion of George, Prince of Wales (later King George IV of the United Kingdom). In 1785, they secretly contracted a marriage that was i ...

, who was sacramentally, but not civilly married to

George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...

, and the young Cardinal Newman. The Irish politician

Daniel O'Connell Daniel O'Connell (I) ( ga, Dónall Ó Conaill; 6 August 1775 – 15 May 1847), hailed in his time as The Liberator, was the acknowledged political leader of Ireland's Roman Catholic majority in the first half of the 19th century. His mobilizat ...

attended regularly when in London. The Victorian explorer and translator of the

Kama Sutra The ''Kama Sutra'' (; sa, कामसूत्र, , ; ) is an ancient Indian Sanskrit text on sexuality, eroticism and emotional fulfillment in life. Attributed to Vātsyāyana, the ''Kama Sutra'' is neither exclusively nor predominantly ...

Sir Richard Burton married in the church and the novelist

Evelyn Waugh Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires '' Decl ...

had his second wedding here in 1937. In 1983, the funeral Mass for Ralph Richardson, a regular worshipper, was held at the church.

Present day

In the early 21st century, the church was the home of "one of the most successful LGBT Catholic parishes in the world". For six years, these "Soho masses" offered twice-monthly services “particularly welcoming to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered Catholics, their parents, friends and families”. In 2013, under pressure from the Vatican, they were forced to move to the

Church of the Immaculate Conception, Farm Street The Church of the Immaculate Conception, Farm Street, also known as Farm Street Church, is a Roman Catholic parish church run by the Society of Jesus in Mayfair, central London. Its main entrance is in Farm Street, though it can also be accessed ...

in nearby Mayfair; Archbishop

Vincent Nichols Vincent Gerard Nichols (born 8 November 1945) is an English cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, Archbishop of Westminster and President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales. He previously served as Archbishop of Birmin ...

attended their first Mass there in 2013. In the same year the church was entrusted to the

Exterior

The exterior is of plain brick, stained red in 1952. The brick facade was deliberately "unassuming", in response to the destruction of the earlier chapel, and the gilded stars and angels which now decorate the facade date from the 1950s. It is of three bays and two storeys.

Interior

The interior retains some of its Georgian decoration, but the church was restored and altered in the Victorian period, firstly in renovations carried out by John Erlam, in 1853, which also saw the installation, over the altar, of the

bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

of the

Assumption Assumption, in Christianity, refers to the Assumption of Mary, a belief in the taking up of the Virgin Mary into heaven. Assumption may also refer to: Places * Assumption, Alberta, Canada * Assumption, Illinois, United States ** Assumption Tow ...

, by John Edward Carew. A second period of restoration took place from 1874, under the direction of

John Francis Bentley John Francis Bentley (30 January 1839 – 2 March 1902) was an English ecclesiastical architect whose most famous work is the Westminster Cathedral in London, England, built in a style heavily influenced by Byzantine architecture. Life Bentle ...

, the architect of

Westminster Cathedral Westminster Cathedral is the mother church of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. It is the largest Catholic church in the UK and the seat of the Archbishop of Westminster. The site on which the cathedral stands in the City o ...

Notes

References

* *

External links

British Listed Buildings Online websiteRC Church of our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory websiteBritish History Online website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Westminster, Church of Our Lady of the Assumption and St. Gregory Our Lady Churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Westminster Grade II* listed Roman Catholic churches in England Grade II* listed churches in the City of Westminster 18th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom Roman Catholic churches completed in 1790 1790 establishments in England Embassy chapels Personal ordinariates