Douai Abbey

Introduction

Douai Abbey in Reading is a Roman Catholic church in Free Curvilinear Gothic style, built of red brick with Bath stone dressings.

History

The abbey church of Our Lady and Saint Edmund was completed in 1993 to the design of Michael Blee. In 1903, English Benedictine monks from Douai succeeded the secular priests at Saint Mary's church and college, Woolhampton, and retained the name 'Douai Abbey'.

Architecture and furnishings

The church has a choir, aisles, a north aisle chapel and a Lady chapel with polygonal apse. The interior is ashlar faced and stone vaulted throughout, with choir arcades having moulded bases and capitals. The church has a newel turret to the north-east of the choir with parapet and lancet openings. J Arnold Crush designed the church, which was built between 1928 and 1933.

The choir consists of two bays, with the eastern bay being short. The church has four-light aisle windows, while the eastern aisle windows have two lights. The clerestory windows are of two lights, except for the eastern ones which have a single light. The east clerestory features a central three-light window flanked by cusped lancets.

A low chapel projects from the western bay to the north, and it has two two-light windows. The Lady chapel has three bays with three-light windows and an east window of four lights. J Arnold Crush was a pupil of Sir Giles Gilbert Scott.

Parish life

Former parish charities include Bridge for Young People, Reaching the Unreached, and Alexander Devine Children's Hospice. Saint Mary's and the Abbey support the West Berkshire Food Bank run by the Trussell Trust.

The parish offers First Communion preparation for children in Year 3 or above. The parish offers the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults for those wanting to know more about the Catholic faith. The parish has altar servers, open to children who have made their First Communion. The parish has readers who proclaim the Word of the Lord during Mass and lead the bidding prayers. The parish has flower arrangers who use seasonal flowers to beautify the church for Sunday Mass and other occasions.