Tea at Trianon: The Brompton Oratory

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Thursday, December 29, 2022

The Brompton Oratory

I was so happy to visit it several times while in London last January. From The Liturgical Arts Journal:

The Brompton Oratory traces its roots to St. John Henry Cardinal Newman, who was a convert to the Faith in 1845. In the spirit of St. Philip Neri, he founded the Birmingham Oratory, and dedicated it in honor of the saint. Other former Anglicans followed him, including Fr. Frederick Faber, who briefly established an Oratory in London.
In 1852 Fr. Faber and is growing community purchased a 3.5 acre property on the edge of London in the (then) rapidly developing suburb of Brompton, in the Knightsbridge area of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London. An appeal was launched in 1874 to build a proper church. In 1880 construction began on the new neo-classical Baroque church. Fr. Faber, who died in 1863, is today buried in one of the side chapels.
The architect of the Oratory was Herbert Dribble. The style chosen was Roman Baroque, inspired by the Chiesa Nuova in downtown Rome. Influences are also evident from Sir Christopher Wren, one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history. The new church was consecrated in 1884. The front facade was not added until 1893. The church exterior is made of Portland stone, with the vaults and dome in concrete.
The copper dome stands 200 feet tall and was completed in 1895-'96 to a design by George Sherrin It is the second largest Catholic church in London, second to Westminster Cathedral. Its octagonal base reflects the old baptismal fonts seen from the Middle Ages, such as the ruined one in the crypt of the Duomo in Milan.
The large floorplan included a very large sacristy and an ambulatory passage behind the apse that connects one sacristy to the other. Devon marble was used in the major order of pilasters and the minor order of columns. More exotic marbles were used, Roman style, in the apse and on the altars. Elaborate carvings can be seen in metalwork, plasterwork, wood, and stone. One of the more famous statues is called the Twelve Apostles, a work by the Italian artist Giuseppe Mazzuoli (1644-1725); this was acquired from Siena Cathedral in 1894. The Lady altar has sculptures by the artist Tommaso Rues (1650-1690). (Read more.)