The London Oratory ("the Congregation of the Oratory of St Philip Neri in London") 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 ...

community of priests living under the rule of life established by its founder,

Philip Neri Philip Romolo Neri ( ; it, italics=no, Filippo Romolo Neri, ; 22 July 151526 May 1595), known as the "Second Apostle of Rome", after Saint Peter, was an Italian priest noted for founding a society of secular clergy called the Congregation of ...

(1515-1595). It is housed in an Oratory House, next to the

Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Brompton Oratory is a large neo-classical Roman Catholic church in the Knightsbridge area of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London. Its full name is the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, or as named in its Grade II* archite ...

(Brompton Oratory) in the

Brompton Road Brompton Road is a street located in the southern part from Knightsbridge and in the eastern part from Brompton in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and partly the City of Westminster in London. It starts from Knightsbridge U ...

, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, SW7. There are four other Oratories in the UK, the Birmingham Oratory, the Manchester Oratory, the

Oxford Oratory The Oxford Oratory Church of St Aloysius Gonzaga (or Oxford Oratory for short) is the Catholic parish church for the centre of Oxford, England. It is located at 25 Woodstock Road, next to Somerville College. The church is served by the Congreg ...

and the

York Oratory The Oratory Church of Saint Wilfrid, York (or York Oratory for short) is a Catholic church in York, England. A church dedicated to Saint Wilfrid has stood in York since medieval times. The church is known as the "Mother Church of the city of Y ...

Origins

The London Oratory was founded in 1849, the year after

John Henry Cardinal Newman John Henry Newman (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890) was an English theologian, academic, intellectual, philosopher, polymath, historian, writer, scholar and poet, first as an Anglican ministry, Anglican priest and later as a Catholi ...

established the Birmingham Oratory, when Newman sent Frederick Faber and some companions, including

Thomas Francis Knox Father Francis Knox (born as Thomas Francis Knox; 24 December 1822 – 20 March 1882, LondonThompson Cooper''Knox, Thomas Francis (1822–1882)'' reviewed by Sheridan Gilley, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press ...

, to start an Oratory in London. The original premises (a former whisky store) were in King William Street (now William IV Street), near Charing Cross. In 1854 the community moved to its present Brompton Road site, adjacent to the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

. The site had previously been owned by Robert Pollard, who had set up a boys’ boarding school there, known as Blemell House. Newman was not initially enthusiastic with a location he considered in, what was then, the suburbs. An attempt early in 1853 by the Vicar of Holy Trinity, Brompton, to prevent the establishment of a Catholic community so close to his church was unsuccessful. An Oratory House was built in 1854, followed by a large temporary church. The house contained the congregations' chapel, known as "the Little Oratory", decorated in 1871 by John Hungerford Pollen, who, at that time, was connected with the nearby South Kensington Museum. The church was replaced in 1884 by the present neo-baroque building, designed by Herbert Gribble. Until the opening of Westminster Cathedral in 1903, the London Oratory was the venue for all great Catholic occasions in London, including the funeral of Cardinal Manning in 1892. Together with their

, the community of the Oratorian Fathers is often popularly, though less accurately, referred to as the 'Brompton Oratory'. The Oratory parish is part of the Roman Catholic metropolitan diocese of Westminster, at whose request the Oratory parish is run by the Fathers of the Oratory. It is part of the Kensington and Chelsea Deanery."Our Diocese", Diocese of Westminster
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Oratorian Fathers

The Oratorian Fathers are a congregation of

secular priest In Christianity, the term secular clergy refers to deacons and priests who are not monastics or otherwise members of religious life. A secular priest (sometimes known as a diocesan priest) is a priest who commits themselves to a certain geogr ...

s living a community life together, bound together not by vows, but by the internal bond of charity and by the external bonds of a common life and rule, dominated by prayer and ministry to their city. There are several masses offered each day and private masses are available by arrangement, as are weddings and funerals. Confessions are also heard daily and priests are always available for counsel and advice. The London Oratory, which is currently served by three choirs, is famous in particular for the solemn celebration of the Roman liturgy, especially in Latin, and for its preservation of the traditional place of music in the liturgy.

List of provosts

The Oratorian Fathers elect a provost from amongst their number to serve as superior for three-year terms. The following have served as Provost of the London Oratory: * 1969–1981: Fr Michael Scott Napier * 1991–1994: Fr Michael Scott Napier * ????–2012: Fr Ignatius Harrison * 2012–present: Fr Julian Large

Popular culture

The singer/songwriter Nick Cave wrote a lovesong called "Brompton Oratory", set outside and inside the London Oratory, which is included in the Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' album

The Boatman's Call ''The Boatman's Call'' is the tenth studio album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, released in 1997. The album is entirely piano-based, alternately somber and romantic in mood, making it a marked departure from the bulk of the band's post-punk cat ...

References

External links