History

History

In the 1920s there were two Catholic churches in Bath; St Mary’s in Julian Road to the North which had been served by secular clergy for 60 years, and St John’s in the centre of the city which was served by the Benedictine community of Downside. With the Catholic population increasing, Dom Anselm Rutherford, OSB, the Father Prior at St John’s decided that a third church was required in the South-Western area of the city. A site was selected in Oldfield Park between the Somerset & Dorset Railway embankment and Oldfield Lane. This was a largely working-class district built mainly in the later 19^th and early years of the 20^th century, serving the nearby factories, small businesses, and railway depots, added to which the local authority had plans for new housing estates on the other side of the railway.

The Dream

The dream was Father Rutherford’s, but the eventual realisation was the result of the generosity of the Catholic community in Bath. Father Rutherford had a desire to return to the simplicity of the architecture of the early Christian Church, the architecture of Rome, and to depart from the dominant Gothic style of the 19th century. The new church was to be named for St Alphege, the local saint who had been martyred as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1012.

The Architect

The choice of architect was fortunate. Giles Gilbert Scott had achieved distinction at a very young age by winning the design competition for the very large Anglican Cathedral in Liverpool, a project which was to occupy him for the rest of his life. He had continued to build many other imposing buildings. At the time of Father Rutherford’s dream Scott had been working on his extension of the nave at Downside Abbey. He had recently returned from a visit to Rome and gladly accepted Rutherford’s commission for St Alphege’s. The new Church became the architect’s first essay in the Romanesque style, inspired by a recent visit to the Continent, and one of his most beautiful designs. In later years Scott described it as  “one of my favourite works “, his “little gem of a Church”. The nave and chancel were completed in two years, with the opening ceremony in 1929. Work on the remainder of the church, and the presbytery proceeded throughout the 1950s, with completion in November 1960. Sir Giles Gilbert Scott had died of lung cancer nine months earlier, his body being buried with his wife outside the west end of his great cathedral at Liverpool. He had been knighted in 1924 after the consecration of the first part of the Cathedral. The Church of Our Lady and St Alphege was consecrated on 7^th October 1954 by Bishop Joseph Rudderham of Clifton, assisted by Abbot Christopher Butler of Downside. The current parish hall is the second one and was opened in 2010.

Realisation

Scott’s design was inspired by the ancient church of St Maria in Cosmedin, Rome, and he distilled the main elements of that much larger building into a small parish church. The plan was for a rectangular basilica church some 37m by 15m to seat 400. The nave was separated from the side aisles by six rounded arches and five columns on each side. The sanctuary was raised above the level of the nave and terminated in a shallow apse. The honey coloured stone contrasted with the rich blue of the flooring. Lighting was by decorative golden sunburst fittings suspended above the nave and sanctuary. The whole was dominated by the stately baldacchino above the altar.

Externally a three-bay loggia portico served as the entrance to the church. A campanile or bell-tower at twice the height of the church was intended to be constructed later (but never was). The Lady Chapel, sacristy, west gallery, presbytery and hall were constructed at various later dates. The external effect was severe in contrast to the warm interior, with a serenity enhanced by the extent of natural light which Scott wanted to flood the building. The foundation stone was laid in 1927, the local builders being Jacob Long & Co. The church opened with a Solemn Blessing and High Mass in July 1929.

The late Dr Gavin Stamp, an authority on the architecture of the period, claimed that “Scott was, perhaps more than any other, the representative architect of the twentieth century, . . . his influence . . . bridges the century like no other in significance”. Scott’s effigy in stone can be seen carved in St Alphege’s Church on one of the column capitals by sculptor William Drinkwater Gough; perhaps the only sculpture of the architect. William D. Gough (active c1915 – c1937), a London-based architectural sculptor, worked closely with the architect Sir Ninian Comper and was in demand as a sculptor of war memorials after the Great War. His carving of 50 scenes on 14 column capitals in St Alphege’s was inspired by examples in 11^th and 12^th century Romanesque churches, particularly in France.

Giles Gilbert Scott’s Description

“The church was my first essay into the Romanesque style of architecture. It has always been one of my favourite works; my only regret is that it has not proved possible to complete the exterior by building the campanile.

The design, though simple, gives no impression of cheapness, and this was largely due to the fact that the walls are of stone both inside and out, and the craftsmanship is of fine quality.

Bath stone, of which the church is built, is usually used in an uninteresting way with regular courses having a smooth face. At St Alphege’s I have used stones that came out of the quarry in rough shapes and needed little more treatment than knocking off the greater projections. Wide joints are not only necessary with this type of rough stone, but add to the beauty of the walling.

The floor was an interesting experiment in using small pieces of linoleum, in the same manner as marble is used to give a tessellated floor of rich colour and pattern. It follows the traditional effect given by the marble floors in some of the old Basilica in Italy.”

The walling stone came from the local quarries in Box, but that for the columns, which have a polished surface, was from Leckhampton, near Cheltenham. The distinctive roof tiles were imported from the Lombardy region of Italy.

The capitals at the top of each column have “exquisite figurative carvings”. Those on the north side depict scenes from the life of Our Lady, and those on the south side from the life of St Alphege. Those supporting the choir and organ loft depict not only Giles Gilbert Scott but have visual references to the patron saints or coats of arms or initials of those associated with the design and building of the church; Bishop George Ambrose Burton of Clifton, Abbot Leander Ramsay of Downside, Dom Anselm Rutherford, and William Drinkwater Gough.

The baldacchino of gilded oak which covers the altar was carved by Stuflesser of Ortisei in the Italian Tyrol and decorated by Watts of London. The fine carving of the Virgin in the Lady chapel is by Theodore Kern. Sometime during the early 1930s fourteen panels of the Stations of the Cross were inserted into the walls around the church depicting Our Lord’s journey to his Crucifixion. These bas-relief stone panels are beautifully carved in a simple style representative of that era. The identity of the carver has so far eluded extensive research and any information about the panels and carver would be welcomed.

Initially the church was used as a chapel-of-ease served by the Father Prior (parish priest) of St John’s, but the Benedictines left Bath in 1932 and in 1937 St Alphege’s was made a parish church and its first secular parish priest appointed. The funds for the building of the church, generously advanced by Downside Abbey, were paid off by parish fund-raising activities and donations from members of the Catholic community in Bath.

An excellent history of Our Lady and St Alphege, Bath, by Caroline Shaw can be purchased on a visit to the church. Free guided tours of this 2* listed church can be arranged for groups and take place annually during Heritage Open Week.

Hail, Guardian of the Redeemer, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary. To you God entrusted his only Son; in you Mary placed her trust; with you Christ became man. Blessed Joseph, to us too, show yourself a father and guide us in the path of life. Obtain for us grace, mercy and courage, and defend us from every evil. Amen.

Pope Francis, Patris Corde

The Statue of St Joseph 

The statue of St Joseph came from the Church of St Joseph in Southdown.  It is now in the Church on a stand made especially for the space and statue by Dom Michael Clothier and Dom Leo Maidlow-Davies from the Downside community of St Gregory’s (which is now mainly based at Belmont Abbey).  It is made of English oak with the staff of St Joseph lying in front of the statue. Lower down there is an inscription which is a quotation from the Old Testament and in says (in modern Hebrew) “go to Joseph”, lines taken from the Book of Genesis.

For the Church St. Joseph is the foster father of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. He is the patron saint of fathers and also the protector of the Church. He is one of the patrons of refugees, because he took Mary and Jesus, when Jesus was a baby, to safety in Egypt, to flee the wrath of the tyrannical King Herod, and is also the patron saint of labourers, because he was a working man, a carpenter. He is the patron saint of families and he is the patron saint of those who are dying.

Pope St John Paul II, who was very devoted to St Joseph, in a meditation dedicated to him in the Apostolic Exhortation Redemptoris Custos, (Guardian of the Redeemer)  highlighted in particular the silence of St Joseph. His is a silence permeated by contemplation of the mystery of God, in an attitude of total availability to his divine wishes. In other words, the silence of St Joseph was not the sign of an inner void, but on the contrary, of the fullness of faith he carried in his heart, and which guided each and every one of his thoughts and actions. A silence thanks to which Joseph, in unison with Mary, could be the guardian of the Word of God, known through the Sacred Scriptures, coming face to face with it continuously in the events of the life of Jesus; a silence interwoven with constant prayer, prayer of the blessing of the Lord, of adoration of his holy will and of unreserved trust in his providence.

St Alphege: his importance for us today

We are fortunate that several written sources on St Alphege allow us to chart the stages of his life and to know with confidence the principles for which he lived and died. In order to assess St Alphege’s importance for today we need to know the outlines of his life and his priorities.

St Alphege was born in Weston village on the edge of Bath in 953 or 954, the much-loved son of a highly ranked Bath family. He left home to become a monk at Deerhurst monastery in Gloucestershire, where in time he was elected abbot even though a young man. We have no reason to doubt the chronicler who tells us that Alphege left Deerhurst to become prior of Glastonbury Abbey under his mentor Abbot St Dunstan, who had been implementing reforms there. From Glastonbury St Alphege returned to Bath, to the abbey, although first he pursued a life of deep prayer as a hermit on Lansdown Hill beyond Weston village, close to a place the ordnance survey map marks as St Alphege’s well. Countless people sought his spiritual help.

After a while St Alphege was persuaded to come to Bath Abbey where he was elected abbot sometime between 977 and 982.  A few years later St Alphege’s life was to change again. Dunstan persuaded him to accept the position of bishop of Winchester in 984. In Winchester St Alphege’s foremost concerns were for the poor, for building or restoring many churches in the diocese, and for improving the standards of sacred music and worship, which included the building of a massive organ in the cathedral.  It was during Alphege’s time at Winchester in 994 that a Viking force led by the King of Norway, Olaf Tryggvason, harried the south of England. St Alphege responded to this dangerous challenge on behalf of his weak king. His extraordinary diplomatic skills and signal courage played a major  part in the eventual peace treaty with Olaf, who promised never to attack England again, a promise he kept. More impressively still, St Alphege helped bring about Olaf’s baptism.

St Alphege served and led Winchester so well that he was persuaded to accept the archbishopric of Canterbury in 1006. He was 52. It speaks volumes of the Church at that time that St Alphege was appointed to Canterbury. A person of radical poverty, deep prayer, and yearning for peace and justice was seen as the ideal candidate for the highest office in the English Church. And St Alphege answered the call to service-leadership.

England during St Alphege’s time saw a marvellous flowering of Christian civilisation. At the same time and in total contrast, people in large parts of the country also suffered from the appalling violence to persons and property brought about by Danish Viking invaders. There had been invasions periodically since the 860s, but the onslaughts came with renewed force from the 990s and most of all when St Alphege was archbishop of Canterbury. It was a society in a state of constant fear. The invasions came over and above a spate of epidemics, bad harvests, and poverty and were made even worse by the weakness and ill-judgement of the king from 978 to 1016, Ethelred, known as the ‘Unready’, meaning ill-advised or ill-prepared.

In September 1011 the Danes were at the gates of Canterbury and a two-week siege ensued.  It is alleged that the Danes were let inside the walls by the treachery of the archdeacon. The Danes then ransacked the city, burned the cathedral in front of St Alphege, and took many citizens prisoner, with St Alphege at their head, and transported the captives by ship to the Danish headquarters at Greenwich. The Danes demanded a sum of £48,000 for the release of the prisoners, an eye-watering sum for that time, which had to be paid by Easter 1012. This extortionate ransom money was paid but then the Danes insisted on a further hefty ransom of £3,000 for the life of St Alphege. At this point St Alphege refused to allow this to be done. He said his people had suffered more than enough and told the Danes: ‘the gold I give you is the Word of God.’ He threw his personal safety to the wind and faced his end with complete trust in God.  Some of the Danes were enraged by the stance Alphege took and at a drunken feast battered him with large bones and the heads of cattle. Eventually one of their number finished St Alphege off with the butt of an axe. This murder took place on Easter Saturday, 19th April, 1012.

St Alphege’s death had far-reaching, powerful consequences.  It helped to  reconcile the Danes and the English. Indeed, St Alphege had begun that task of reconciling. Over the winter of 1011-1012, while captive at Greenwich, St Alphege was allowed to minister to Danes during an epidemic and some of the sick converted to Christ. Alphege came to be revered as much by many of the Danes as by his own people. His love and example helped the Danish people more and more to open their hearts to the Gospel.

On the night of his murder some Danish leaders seem to have planned to drop St Alphege’s corpse quietly into the river, but they were thwarted by the emotional outpourings of English and Danish Christians. People-power prevailed.  Literally overnight St Alphege became a martyr-saint and a national hero. On the day after his murder St Alphege’s body was taken along a route lined with people for burial in state at St Paul’s in London. Moreover, the leader of the Danish Vikings, Thorkell the Tall,  defected to the English, along with the crews of 45 ships. There was clearly something about Alphege which both disturbed and attracted people, rather like John the Baptist. Holiness can be disconcerting.  In 1023 the Danish King Cnut, one of St Alphege’s most fervent admirers, had St Alphege’s body removed from St Paul’s and taken to be re-buried near the high altar in Canterbury Cathedral where it remained until 1538. Stained-glass windows in the cathedral showing the end of St Alphege’s life were made in the 12^th century above his tomb, and part of these remain.

After the Norman Conquest, Archbishop Lanfranc of Canterbury asked his fellow monk Anselm whether St Alphege could properly be counted as a martyr or just a victim of violence. Anselm gave a resounding answer: ‘He who dies for justice, dies for Christ.’ Lanfranc was duly convinced of St Alphege’s sainthood, which was formalized by Pope St Gregory VII in 1078. Lanfranc also  commissioned an official life of the saint, written by Osbern, a monk of Canterbury. Anselm, Lanfranc’s successor as archbishop, did more than anyone to spread the veneration of St Alphege, who became one of the most revered saints in England for over five hundred years, seen as a champion of justice for the people.

For Christians of all traditions, St Alphege is remarkably accessible, partly because he preceded the tragic split of the Western and Eastern Churches in the 11^th century and he preceded of course the painful divisions of the 16^th century and later. In 2012, the millennium of St Alphege’s martyrdom, a Bath Orthodox artist, Tamara Penwell, painted the icon of St Alphege which is in the Church of St Alphege and which was unveiled there at an ecumenical service. This moving occasion was followed by an ecumenical pilgrimage to sites associated with the saint by a group from Bath Abbey, St Alphege’s Church, and the Bath Orthodox community. In the life and death of St Alphege there is much common ground to be shared by all Christians. He is a unifying figure.

Furthermore, St Alphege’s virtues inspire those of all faiths and none. He can be readily admired as one who bravely faced hostile, ultimately deadly forces, while standing up for justice, the common good, freedom, and human dignity. His story raises vital questions for us. Take the question of money. How can you measure the worth of a human being in monetary terms? £3.000? £48,000? 30 pieces of silver? So many people today tend to be measured in ways that are merely financial. St Alphege was asked how much his life was worth.  No one, he said, can put a monetary value on a soul that has been redeemed by Christ. How should we value human lives?

Then there is the vital question of how we genuinely help the poor and those in need. Again, there is the question of how and when we say no to bullies and accept the consequences. Paying up and giving in encourage the bully to come back for more, whether in the 1000s, the 1930s or now. Then there is a great question for our age: to whom does the world belong? St Alphege demonstrated a deep sense that the world belongs not to us but to God; we are God’s stewards and have no right to plunder and destroy at the expense of our fellow creatures.

There is another great and urgent challenge for our time: how to build peace and justice; how to reconcile those who are or have been in conflict. The answer is simple yet demanding: it is through love. As Pope Leo XIV wrote in his Apostolic Exhortation Dilexi te:

Christian love breaks down every barrier, brings close those who were distant, unites strangers, and reconciles enemies . . . Christian love . . . makes what was apparently impossible happen . . . A Church that sets no limits to love, that knows no enemies to fight but only men and women to love, is the Church that the world needs today.

One could add that this was the kind of Church St Alphege wanted to shape and lead. He upheld to death justice, peace, reconciliation, and solidarity with the poor. He showed heroically how to love God and how to love our neighbour, especially how to love our enemy.

Underpinning everything, St Alphege shows us the vital importance of combining prayer and action, each constantly driving the other.

St Alphege offers a path to unity for our multi-faith, multi-ethnic and much-divided society. He speaks a living message of peace to our troubled world.  He is not just a saint for Bath, but a prophet for all nations and for every age.

Giles Mercer