St Anne's Church, Birmingham
Roman Catholic parish church founded by Saint John Henry Newman.
St Anne’s Church, a Roman Catholic parish in Digbeth, Birmingham, stands on Alcester Street. Founded by Saint John Henry Newman in 1849, it moved to its current Grade II listed building in 1884, designed by London architects Albert Vicars and John O’Neill.
Quick Facts
- Location
- Digbeth, Birmingham
- Country
- England
- Denomination
- Roman Catholic
- Founded
- 1849
- Founder
- John Henry Newman
- Dedication
- Saint Anne
- Functional status
- Parish church
- Heritage designation
- Grade II listed
Facts from the source article.
History
John Henry Newman returned from Rome to Birmingham in 1847 after receiving permission from Pope Pius IX to establish an Oratory of Saint Philip Neri in England. By 1849 he had gathered followers and founded the church in an old gin distillery in Deritend, an area of poor housing and back-to-back rows occupied mainly by Irish migrant workers. In 1852 Newman moved his community to Edgbaston upon completion of the Birmingham Oratory, but St Anne's Church continued under the Archdiocese of Birmingham. Fr John P. Dowling became parish priest in 1859 and provided the land for the current church. A new building on Alcester Street, designed by the London firm Vicars and O'Neill, was opened by Cardinal Manning in 1884; the former distillery became a school. J. R. R. Tolkien worshipped at the church when he lived in Moseley and converted to Roman Catholicism in 1900. Canon Villiers replaced Fr Dowling in 1903 and died on 19 October 1938, after which the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate took over administration. In 2010 the Oblates returned the church to the Archdiocese of Birmingham.
Parish
The first Birmingham St Patrick's Day Parade was held in 1952 and passes through the parish along Deritend High Street and Digbeth. Held on the Sunday before 17 March, it is the world's largest St Patrick's Day Parade after New York City and Dublin, drawing up to 80,000 spectators and up to 40 floats, groups and bands. The church maintains a close relationship with St Anne's Primary School. Three Sunday Masses are held weekly: a Vigil Mass at 1:00 pm on Saturday, and Masses at 11:00 am and 6:30 pm on Sunday.
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