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St Chad’s Cathedral a Grade II* listed building, located in the Gun Quarter, Northside, Birmingham, West Midlands.
St Chad's was the first Catholic cathedral erected in England after the English Reformation initiated in 1534 by King Henry VIII. St Chad's Cathedral was built at the behest of Bishop Thomas Walsh, the local apostolic vicar (styled Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District). St Chad's Cathedral was designed by Augustus Welby Pugin, it was raised to the status of cathedral in 1852 following the restoration of the Catholic Hierarchy in England by Pope Pius IX in 1850.
The patron of the cathedral is St Chad, a 7th-century Bishop of Mercia and pupil of St Aidan of Lindisfarne. The cathedral enshrines, in the canopy above the altar, the relics of some long bones of St Chad. These were originally enshrined at, and rescued from, Lichfield Cathedral by Prebendary Arthur Dudley, before its despoliation during the Reformation, in about 1538. Fr Dudley passed the bones to his nieces, Bridget and Katherine Dudley of Russell's Hall, whence they were divided in parcels and passed down among their family. In 1651, Henry Hodgetts, a farmer, of Sedgley was dying and his wife summoned an itinerant priest, Fr Peter Turner, SJ to gave him the last sacraments.
When they recited the litany of the saints, Henry kept calling upon Saint Chad, pray for me. On being asked why he called upon St Chad, he replied, "because his bones are in the head of my bed". He then instructed his wife to pass the box of relics to Fr Turner for safekeeping and he took them back to the Seminary of St Omer, in Northern France, where he was based. In the nineteenth Century, the relics found their way into the hands of Sir Thomas Fizherbert-Brockholes of Aston Hall, near Stafford. After Sir Thomas's death, his widow moved to a smaller residence and their chaplain, Fr Benjamin Hulme found the dusty velvet-covered box of relics under the altar, when he cleared out the chapel.
Fr Hulme presented the relics to Bishop Walsh, who was in the process of deciding upon a suitable patronal dedication for his new Cathedral. So it was that the relics of the saint who was the apostle of the Midlands in the seventh century were enshrined above the altar. These relics were subjected to carbon dating analysis by the archaeological laboratory of Oxford University in 1985, which showed all but one of the bones to date from the seventh century, which concurs with the death of St Chad on 2 March 672 AD.
The cathedral was situated in the Gun Quarter of Birmingham, which endangered it during the Second World War. It was bombed on 22 November 1940. An incendiary bomb fell through the roof of the south aisle and bounced from the floor into some central heating pipes, which then burst.
The architect chosen to design St Chad's, Augustus Welby Pugin, later became one of England's most renowned Gothic Revival architects. Pugin had converted to Roman Catholicism in 1835, and spent most of the remainder of his working life designing Catholic churches, their fittings and vestments.
St Chad's was the first large church that he designed which was planned, from the outset in 1837, to become a cathedral. Pugin lavished much care on the building, and described, in his letters, not only the architecture, but its decoration, fittings and furnishings.
Information Source:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Chad%27s_Cathedral,_Birmingham
42885
St Chad’s Cathedral a Grade II* listed building, located in the Gun Quarter, Northside, Birmingham, West Midlands.
St Chad's was the first Catholic cathedral erected in England after the English Reformation initiated in 1534 by King Henry VIII. St Chad's Cathedral was built at the behest of Bishop Thomas Walsh, the local apostolic vicar (styled Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District). St Chad's Cathedral was designed by Augustus Welby Pugin, it was raised to the status of cathedral in 1852 following the restoration of the Catholic Hierarchy in England by Pope Pius IX in 1850.
The patron of the cathedral is St Chad, a 7th-century Bishop of Mercia and pupil of St Aidan of Lindisfarne. The cathedral enshrines, in the canopy above the altar, the relics of some long bones of St Chad. These were originally enshrined at, and rescued from, Lichfield Cathedral by Prebendary Arthur Dudley, before its despoliation during the Reformation, in about 1538. Fr Dudley passed the bones to his nieces, Bridget and Katherine Dudley of Russell's Hall, whence they were divided in parcels and passed down among their family. In 1651, Henry Hodgetts, a farmer, of Sedgley was dying and his wife summoned an itinerant priest, Fr Peter Turner, SJ to gave him the last sacraments.
When they recited the litany of the saints, Henry kept calling upon Saint Chad, pray for me. On being asked why he called upon St Chad, he replied, "because his bones are in the head of my bed". He then instructed his wife to pass the box of relics to Fr Turner for safekeeping and he took them back to the Seminary of St Omer, in Northern France, where he was based. In the nineteenth Century, the relics found their way into the hands of Sir Thomas Fizherbert-Brockholes of Aston Hall, near Stafford. After Sir Thomas's death, his widow moved to a smaller residence and their chaplain, Fr Benjamin Hulme found the dusty velvet-covered box of relics under the altar, when he cleared out the chapel.
Fr Hulme presented the relics to Bishop Walsh, who was in the process of deciding upon a suitable patronal dedication for his new Cathedral. So it was that the relics of the saint who was the apostle of the Midlands in the seventh century were enshrined above the altar. These relics were subjected to carbon dating analysis by the archaeological laboratory of Oxford University in 1985, which showed all but one of the bones to date from the seventh century, which concurs with the death of St Chad on 2 March 672 AD.
The cathedral was situated in the Gun Quarter of Birmingham, which endangered it during the Second World War. It was bombed on 22 November 1940. An incendiary bomb fell through the roof of the south aisle and bounced from the floor into some central heating pipes, which then burst.
The architect chosen to design St Chad's, Augustus Welby Pugin, later became one of England's most renowned Gothic Revival architects. Pugin had converted to Roman Catholicism in 1835, and spent most of the remainder of his working life designing Catholic churches, their fittings and vestments.
St Chad's was the first large church that he designed which was planned, from the outset in 1837, to become a cathedral. Pugin lavished much care on the building, and described, in his letters, not only the architecture, but its decoration, fittings and furnishings.
Information Source:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Chad%27s_Cathedral,_Birmingham