Pantasaph is a small village in
Flintshire
Flintshire () is a county in the north-east of Wales. It borders the Irish Sea to the north, the Dee Estuary to the north-east, the English county of Cheshire to the east, Wrexham County Borough to the south, and Denbighshire to the west. ...
, north-east
Wales
Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
, two miles south of
Holywell in the
community
A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...
of
Whitford. Its name translates into English as Asaph's Hollow.
History
The abbey lands at one point belonged to the nearby
Basingwerk Abbey. Pantasaph came into the possession of the Pennant family at the
Dissolution of the Monasteries. The land passed down in the family until 1846, when the sole heiress Louisa married
Rudolph, Viscount Feilding, heir to the 7th Earl of Denbigh. They both converted to
Roman Catholicism
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
and decided to donate St David's Church, which they had recently built for Pantasaph, to the Catholic Church. This caused a considerably outcry at the time. It was accepted by the
Friars Minor Capuchin of Great Britain as their mother house and opened in 1852. The church was designed by
T H Wyatt and modified, to make it more specifically suited to Catholic use, by
Augustus Pugin
Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin ( ; 1 March 1812 – 14 September 1852) was an English architect, designer, artist and critic with French and Swiss origins. He is principally remembered for his pioneering role in the Gothic Revival architecture ...
, who designed the high altar, the pulpit, the baptismal font, the reredos in the Lady Chapel and a statue of the Madonna and Child. The altar, reredos and statue had been exhibited in the 'Mediaeval Court' at the
Great Exhibition
The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held), was an international exhibition that took ...
of 1851. The pulpit was removed and destroyed during a post-Vatican II re-ordering in the 1960s. The graveyard holds the remains of three British soldiers shot for cowardice during
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
.
From St David's Church and the Friary, the Capuchins went on to start
missions in other places in North Wales that became churches in their own right, such as Immaculate Conception Church in
Flint
Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...
in 1854 and St Anthony of Padua Church in
Saltney
Saltney is a town straddling the counties of Flintshire and Cheshire on the England–Wales border. The local government Community (Wales), community of Saltney lies entirely in Wales, while the English areas are Unparished area, unparished. The ...
from 1862.
The village is also the location of the former St Clare's Convent which included a boarding school, a hospital and an orphanage. It was built by a Father Seraphin of Bruges, who brought the first group of sisters to it in 1861. It closed in 1977, having at its peak housed some 500 orphans. The site lay derelict for a number of years and was damaged by fire in 1985, but has since been partly demolished and the remainder restored as luxury accommodation. It is now a designated conservation area.
The poet
Francis Thompson
Francis Joseph Thompson (16 December 1859 – 13 November 1907) was an English poet and Catholic mystic. At the behest of his father, a doctor, he entered medical school at the age of 18, but at 26 left home to pursue his talent as a writer a ...
spent some time recovering from illness at Pantasaph in the 1890s, lodging in a house beside the friary gates, at the post office and at Crecas Cottage between Pantasaph and
Carmel.
Friary
The first friars occupied the original presbytery, (now called Denbigh House), designed by Wyatt as the vicarage to what was to be an Anglican church. Following the consecration of St David's church, the friary was constructed in Collegiate Gothic style between 1858 and 1865. A wing was added to the east in 1899 to form an L-shaped range with a turret in the angle. Built in two storeys with attics and basements it is constructed of snecked grey stone with sandstone dressings and steep slate roofs.
St David's church and the friary complex have all been awarded grade II* listed status. The friary became a large
Franciscan
The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...
Retreat Centre, and the friars returned to live in Denbigh House, their original home at Pantasaph. The Retreat Centre closed in December 2017.
On the wooded hill behind the complex a 19th-century zig-zag path links a landscaped
Lourdes Grotto
A Lourdes grotto is a replica of the grotto where the Lourdes apparitions occurred in 1858, in the town of Lourdes in France, now part of the sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes. Some Lourdes grottos are almost identical reproductions of the scene o ...
and
Stations of the Cross
The Stations of the Cross or the Way of the Cross, also known as the Via Dolorosa, Way of Sorrows or the , are a series of fourteen images depicting Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ on the day of Crucifixion of Jesus, his crucifixion and acc ...
leading to a large
Calvary hill on the hilltop. An inscription at the site reads, "Special indulgences are granted by the
Holy See
The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...
to all who shall devoutly visit this Calvary or make the Stations or who looking from a distance to this cross shall say a
Hail Mary
The Hail Mary or Ave Maria (from its first words in Latin), also known as the Angelic or Angelical Salutation, is a traditional Catholic prayer addressing Mary, the mother of Jesus. The prayer is based on two biblical passages featured in the ...
for the conversion of England."
The Stations of the Cross are listed as Grade II in the
.
The Friary gardens house the National
Padre Pio
Pio of Pietrelcina (born Francesco Forgione; 25 May 1887 – 23 September 1968), widely known as , , was an Italian Capuchin friar, priest, stigmatist, and mystic. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church, celebrated on 23 Septembe ...
Centre.
Friary and shrine
File:Divine_Mercy_Picture,_Pantasaph.jpg, Divine Mercy Picture, Pantasaph Friary
File:Pantasaph.jpg, Pantasaph, The Friary. Hill top
File:The_Friary,_Pantasaph,_Flintshire.jpg, The Friary, Pantasaph, 2019
File:St_Padre_Pio,_Pantasaph.jpg, St Padre Pio, Pantasaph
References
External links
Pantasaph Friary site
{{authority control
Catholic Church in Wales
Catholic pilgrimage sites
Villages in Flintshire
Franciscan monasteries in Wales
Capuchin friaries in the United Kingdom
Registered historic parks and gardens in Flintshire
Roman Catholic shrines in the United Kingdom