THIS church is situated in Pottery lane, near the north end of
Portland-road, bordering on the Potteries, from the poor population of
which—more particularly the Irish portion—it draws its congregation. The
building and the school attached occupy one side of the road, and a row
of stables the other; and, as though not to be desecrated by looking on
the latter, there is not a noticeable window in the road side of the
church; consequently no architectural attraction in the exterior, which
is about as uninviting as the site on which it stands. It is not until
one has passed through a small enclosed courtyard, thence by an
unexpected turn into a half-hidden portico, and again through a
cloistered doorway—all impressing with a strong idea of seclusion—that he
becomes really conscious of the presence of an ecclesiastical edifice.
Everything to this point is plain as plainness itself—there being nothing
to be seen but a heavy, bulky pile of common brickwork, wearing something
of the aspect of a very poor monastic enclosure. But on reaching the
interior a different impression is awakened, although still heaviness and
gloom prevail. The principal nave is short, and that, with the side
called “Our Lady’s Chapel,” are together not capable of holding more than
about 500 persons. At the same time it looks overcrowded with pillars,
which darken and intercept an otherwise limited view. The effect of the
whole is that of strength, but dimness and lowness. The architecture is
of a mixed kind, in which the Italian is prominent, with a slight
blending of Gothic. The diminished effect of space and light are,
however, of course relieved by the illuminations and ornaments peculiar
to a Roman Catholic church—the numerous candles, the images, the high
altar, its bright furniture, drapery, and ministrant priests, standing
out conspicuously, and lit by daylight from the chancel-windows.
Moreover, a strip of the walls through the full length on both sides is
ornamented with some effective painting on slate, representing various
passages in our Lord’s sufferings, by Westlake, who also executed a
couple of frescoes at the back of the side altars, and the subjects of
three or four stained windows. The decorations of the large side-altars
to the Virgin and St. Francis are partially seen through the commingling
columns. The body of the church is filled with plain benches and
cane-bottomed chairs, all of which are much the worse for wear, and in
their present state looking quite in keeping with the voluntary austerity
and poverty of the famous mendicant friar of the thirteenth century from
whom the church derives its name, and whom it regards as its patron
saint, _St. Francis D’Assisi_. A charge is made for entering the seats,
and be it noted that not one was observed to enter without dropping his
coin, larger or smaller, in the plate. The fee appears to be considered
in the light of a _weekly offering_. One of the most notable objects in
the church is the baptistry, where there is a handsome marble font, with
a large conical lid and fixed pulley machinery for raising it.
This church was built ten years ago, by Mr. Clutton, as a chapel of case
to the larger Roman Catholic cause—St. Mary’s, Bayswater—which
establishment was the first outcome of the late Cardinal Wiseman’s
Ultramontane mission in London. The Rev. Father H. A. Rawse, M.A., then
of the Oratory, Brompton, and previously an Anglican priest of Oxford,
illustrated his zeal as a convert to Rome by the donation of 7,000_l._ to
the St. Francis enterprise, and became its first resident priest. The
Rev. Father Lescher is the present minister, who is occasionally assisted
by priests from the parent church at Bayswater, or from the Oratory, and
had present, on the morning of our visit, Father Robertson, from the
former place. Father Lescher himself has lately given proof of his zeal
by the handsome gift of 500_l._ towards 1,400_l._ for the purchase of the
Silchester Hall, recently occupied by the Methodists, and being acquired
by the Catholics for a school. Their present day-school, in
Pottery-lane, has about 160 pupils, who pay, as a rule, a penny per week,
the necessary balance being made up by other funds.
Father Lescher was the preacher for the morning, and prefaced his homily
by several announcements, one of which had reference to looking after
their pauper children who were taken to the Kensington Workhouse. On any
child being taken there, notice was to be given to the priest, who would
cause inquiry to be made as to the spiritual oversight of such children;
and the congregation were earnestly exhorted to attend to this, as he
said it would “prevent the _proselytism of the poor_.” He congratulated
them that they had succeeded in sending some Roman Catholics to the Board
at the last election, and so had fared better of late. But he urged them
to endeavour to return more at the next election, in order that their
prospects in regard to the children might be still more improved!
The rev. father took for his text Ephesians iv. 23, 24, “And be renewed
in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man; which after
God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” The discourse was a
simple, pointed extempore address on regeneration, or, as the preacher
sometimes called it, “conversion,” occupying about thirty minutes. There
was “a great difference between the Christian and the heathen.” “We were
not born Christians, but sinners; and sin would master us unless a change
be wrought in us.” “Heresy always had some truth in it; but it was truth
carried out without being duly limited by other truths.” Thus as to
regeneration, which was wrought by the grace of God in the soul—no doubt
that grace began to work in baptism. But a man was not regenerate or
converted because he had been baptized, for he might be living in sin.
Conversion was a thing to go on continually through a man’s life. Europe
was covered all over with a race of baptized, but really unregenerate
men. Sin should be completely taken out of our heart. From beginning to
end regeneration was God’s work. He made us new creatures. Christ was a
new man in this world, and was a pattern to which we were to be
conformed; we must be like him, setting aside all worldly-vain, foolish,
and vicious thoughts. St. Francis was an example, whose feast they had
just celebrated, who, by the grace of God, was enabled to live a life of
devotion and self-denial. “Let them pray to St. Francis, that he might
help them to follow in his steps.” Apart from the exhortation to pray to
St. Francis, many will take the essence, form, and language of this
outline as thoroughly Evangelical. There appears to be a departure from
the strict doctrine of essential sacramental efficacy, and a distinct
insistence on the necessity of a change of heart and of a holy life. It
was high mass, and one of Mozart’s formed the musical part. The organ is
a small one, but sweet in tone, and played by a new organist—a pupil from
the Pro-Cathedral. The choir did not contain any distinguished voice,
but the singing, though less florid, was more appropriate than the
extreme artistic affectations of the Oratory and Pro Cathedral. On the
previous Wednesday—which was the Roman Catholic Feast Day of St. Francis
D’Assisi—Archbishop Manning had preached in the church.