Three churches in the county still remain under Jesuit control, but many more have been passed on to diocesan or other authorities.
Lancashire was the most Catholic county in England in the 17th and 18th centuries. The reason for this was the solid phalanx of Catholic landowners in the county, particularly, but not exclusively, in West Lancashire. In 1781 it was calculated that there were 69,373 Catholics in England and Wales; 27,000 of these were in the Anglican Diocese of Chester, which at that time included Lancashire. In the 19th century Catholic numbers in the county were bolstered by some converts, and many Irish immigrants: in the 1851 census the Irish-born population of Lancashire was 191,000, some 10 per cent of the county’s inhabitants.
The Jesuits have played their full part in Lancashire since the Reformation. In 1623 the English Province was set up and the country divided into “Colleges” or “Residences”. The College of Blessed Aloysius covered Lancashire, Staffordshire, Cheshire and Westmorland. On September 7, 1628, St Edmund Arrowsmith SJ was martyred at Lancaster. In 1723 Lancashire had 25 Jesuit priests. The suppression of the Jesuits from 1763 to 1815 did not massively affect England as they were already acting in the main as chaplains and parish priests rather than anything more elevated.
It has not generally been the practice of the Jesuits to hang on to parishes in perpetuity. In the past they often took on parishes at the behest of the relevant apostolic visitor/bishop, but subsequently left them to suit their changing mission. After Catholic Emancipation in 1829 there was a conscious move to relinquish rural parishes (and chaplaincies) in Lancashire in favour of urban ones. In the present day of course the ability to run numerous parishes has diminished because of their considerably reduced numbers.
The Catholic Hierarchy was restored in 1850 and the Dioceses of Liverpool (an Arch- diocese since 1911) and Salford were set up. The Diocese of Lancaster was set up out of part of the Archdiocese of Liverpool in 1924.
The architectural legacy of the Jesuits in Lancashire is considerable. This includes three churches which remain under Jesuit control. Preston was in the 18th century the great stronghold of Lancashire Catholicism. St Wilfrid’s Church was opened by Fr Joseph Dunn SJ in 1793 soon after the Second Catholic Relief Act. Built in a simple classical style it was magnificently rebuilt in 1877-80 by Fr Ignatius Scoles SJ “in Italian style – a truly and emphatically Jesuit church”. It is noted for the richness of its unwrecked internal architecture and fittings.
St Peter’s Church, Stonyhurst, was erected in 1832-5 to a design by JJ Scoles soon after Catholic Emancipation. Its late Perpendicular design is based loosely on that of King’s College, Cambridge. It is also notable for its excellent fittings and has been spared major reordering.
The Church of the Holy Name of Jesus, Manchester, was designed by JA Hansom in 13th-century French Gothic style, but on Counter-Reformation “open” principles, between 1869 and 1871. It is on the scale of a cathedral. Pevsner described the building as “a design of the very highest quality and of an originality nowhere demonstrative …Hansom never again did so marvellous a church.” The splendid west tower was added by Adrian Gilbert Scott in 1928. The internal furnishings are again notable for their quality and richness. The parish was a vigorous one until house clearances in the 1960s removed much of the physical parish. The Jesuits with- drew in the 1990s and the church was taken over by the Oratorians. In 2012 the Orator-ians moved to St Chad, Cheetham Hill, and the Holy Name was returned to the Jesuits to serve as the church of the University Catholic Chaplaincy, rather than as a parish.
The list of various churches built but then relinquished by the Jesuits is a longer one.
The Jesuits had a mission at Prescot from 1716. They built the simple chapel, with Gothic south windows, of Our Lady Help of Christians, Portico, in 1790. This was handed over to the Archdiocese of Liverpool at some stage in the 20th century.
St John, Standishgate, Wigan, was built for the Jesuits in 1819 in a simple classical style. JJ Scoles provided the magnificent sanctuary in 1834 with its temple-like baldacchino, which survived reordering in 1994. The Jesuits handed over the church to the Archdiocese of Liverpool in 1933.
In 1827 St Lewis, Croft, was built by the Jesuit mission at nearby Southworth Hall as an unassuming “nonconformist” chapel for the French secular priest Fr Leonard Louis de Richebec, who served there 1795-1845. The Jesuits gave up the church in 1855.
St Ignatius, Preston, was built in a neo-Perpendicular style in 1833 by JJ Scoles. The Jesuits departed in the 20th century. Since 2015 the church has been the Syro-Malabar Cathedral of St Alphonsa.
The magnificent Gothic Revival church of St Francis Xavier, Liverpool, was built for the Jesuits by JJ Scoles in 1845-9, with the Lady Chapel added by Edmund Kirby in 1885-7. At the start of the Second World War it was the largest Catholic parish in England with 13,000 Catholics. The Jesuits have now announced their final departure as of Easter 2023.
There had been a Jesuit mission at Clitheroe since 1796. The church of St Michael and St John was built by JA Hansom in Gothic style in 1847-50. The interior is richly furnished. The Jesuits handed over the church to the Diocese of Salford in 2008.
JA Hansom built the striking St Walburge, Preston, for the Jesuits in 13th century Gothic style in 1850-4. With its 309-foot spire it dominates the city. It was handed over to the Diocese of Lancaster in 1955. Facing recent closure, it was taken over in 2015 by the traditionalist Institute of Christ the King as a Shrine church.
In 1854 JJ Scoles was commissioned by the Jesuits to build the Gothic Church of Our Lady, Lydiate. It was handed over to the diocese as early as 1860.
St Joseph, Leigh, was built by JA Hansom in 1855. There had been a Jesuit mission since 1670. The Gothic church has a fine gilded marble high altar. The Jesuits left in 1960.
EW Pugin built The Sacred Heart, Blackpool, in 1856 in Decorated Gothic for the Jesuits at the expense of Miss Monica Tempest of Broughton Hall, Skipton. It was extended with an octagon by PP Pugin. It was reordered in 1972 but the elaborate reredos survives. The Jesuits handed over the parish to the Diocese of Lancaster in 1972.
Holy Cross, St Helen’s, was built by JJ Scoles in 1860-2 in Gothic style. The interior maintains much of its 19th century character. The Jesuits departed in 1932.
A group of Jesuits expelled from Germany in 1872 were given St Michael, Ditton, Widnes by Lady Mary Stapleton-Bretherton. The red sandstone church (“quite a brute” – Pevsner) with its saddleback tower was built by Henry Clutton in 1876-9. The German Jesuits left in 1895.
St Mary, Lowe House, St Helen’s is a large and idiosyncratic church opened in 1929 in a mixture of Gothic and Romanesque styles. It is a striking building with a tall tower and a copper dome. The Jesuits left the parish in 1981.
The Society of Jesus nowadays has retreated from many of its traditional roles in this country but Lancashire owes it, in terms of Catholic architectural heritage, much gratitude.
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