Record

AAW - Archives of the Archbishop of Westminster
- DOW - Diocese of Westminster
  - PAR - Parishes

Repository	Archives of the Archbishop of Westminster
Ref No	AAW/DOW/PAR/128
Title	Maiden Lane (Covent Garden), Corpus Christi
Level	Series
Description	In 1872, Archbishop Manning commissioned Fr Cornelius Keens to lease a piece of land from the Bedford Estates to build a church. The foundation stone for the new church was laid in 1873, and while construction took place, Mass was celebrated in the church school in Macklin Street off Drury Lane. It was be the first church in England since the Reformation to be given the dedication of Corpus Christi, described by Fr Keens as an act of reparation ‘for the sacrileges committed at that sad time against the Divine Sacrament’. Fr Keens employed the architect, Frederick Hyde Pownall, who he had previously commissioned to build the Church of the Sacred Heart, Holloway, and Corpus Christi was designed in the same Early English style as the Sacred Heart. In addition to the cramped and awkward space available, Powell also had to mollify local concerns about the proposed height of the church, so he sank it three feet below the level of the pavement. The church was formally opened by Archbishop Manning on 20 October 1874, but it would be another 82 years before the original debt would be paid off, so it was only consecrated on 18 October, 1956. As with the nearby Protestant church of St Peter's, Covent Garden, Corpus Christi is known as the Actor's Church, providing a home to the Catholic Association for Performing Arts (previously the Catholic Stage Guild), and for Catholic actors performing in Covent Garden and the West End. Corpus Christi also hosts the Latin Mass Society and the Fraternity of St Genesius (the patron saint of actors). The hymns 'Sweet Sacrament Divine' and 'O Sacred Heart' were composed here by former Parish Priest Fr. Francis Stanfield. The reknowned theologian, author and broadcaster, Mgr. Ronald Knox was invited to preach at the Patronal Feast in 1908, the year of the Eucharistic Congress in London, and the invitation was extended a further 26 times altogether. His sermons were published in book form under the titles ‘Between Heaven and Charing Cross’ and ‘Window in the Wall’. Corpus Christi is the Westminster Diocesan Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament, and was elevated to this dignity by Cardinal Nichols in 2018, following lengthy renovation work to the church. A series of special services took place in this year, and copies of these services are included in the collection.

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