Sacred Heart and St. Teresa

Introduction

Sacred Heart and Saint Teresa in Birmingham was built in 1938-42 to designs by George Bernard Cox of Harrison and Cox. The church is distinguished by its well-executed Byzantine-Romanesque style.

History

A church dedicated to the Sacred Heart and St John the Evangelist, and a presbytery, were built in 1882 by a local contractor named Rowbotham. The church, to seat 600, was designed by G B Cox of Harrison & Cox and the contractors who began the work were J & W Malley. At the outbreak of the Second World War the project lost its architect to the army, and subsequently the contractors declared bankruptcy. Rev Griffin persevered, appointing new contractors, Collins & Godfrey, and work continued despite the war; it was opened in September 1942, having been brought in at a cost of £25,000.

The sanctuary was liturgically reordered in the 1970s to reflect changes from the Second Vatican Council, in particular bringing forward the altar. In 2009 a casket containing the relics of St Teresa of Lisieux was brought to the church as part of a nationwide tour.

Architecture and furnishings

The church is cruciform on plan, with a narthex flanked by apsidal baptistery and stair wing, a five-bay nave with side aisles, transepts, crossing tower, and square-ended chancel. The interior walls, originally left plain to receive a scheme of mosaic decoration, were plastered and painted in the 1970s. The church has an open timber roof over the nave, with panelled tie beams on moulded corbels carrying king posts and queen struts. The transepts each house a chapel, that to the north the Lady Chapel, St Teresa to the south; both have polychrome marble altars within apsidal recesses.

The font, moved from the baptistery to the west end of the nave, is white marble, tapering slightly to a narrower shaft, with an octagonal cover. The pulpit is constructed from yellowish marble blocks, used as ashlar to build a polygonal structure on a narrower plinth, with moulded timber coping. The Stations of the Cross are set into the aisle walls in concave-moulded frames, and made from opus sectile mosaic on gold grounds. The stained glass includes one window in the south wall of the sanctuary by Hardman, dedicated to the first resident priest (d.1882), brought here from the earlier church after its demolition in 1987.

The three lancets in the north transept depict the Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary; they were probably designed by Gilbert E Sheedy, circa 1950. Sheedy was probably also responsible for the ten clerestory windows, which depict the Ten Commandments. In the south transept is an unusual Gothic war memorial in oak with gilded details, the names of the fallen in illuminated script, a painted depiction of the Sudarium of St Veronica above. The church retains its bronze light fittings.

The seating throughout the church is in the form of carved oak benches, with panelled backs and moulded and scrolled ends, contemporary with its construction. To the roadside are two pairs of gatepiers, contemporary with the church, of matching brick with half-round stone caps, with crosses in relief to either side of the semi-circular heads. The church is built of pale brown brick with concrete dressings and plain tile roofs. The central double-leaf west door is flanked by Corinthian columns, with a semi-circular tympanum above, plain but probably originally designed to receive mosaic decoration.

Over the door is the inscription: SSMO CORDI JESU ET S TERESIAE. The large crossing tower is square-topped, with round-headed bell chamber lights, seven to the east and west sides and five to each of the north and south sides. The cast-iron rainwater goods have shaped heads with rope-twist and floral decoration. The floor of the nave is laid with bold, geometric polychrome stone.

The south aisle has a series of narrow, semi-circular-headed doorways with panelled timber doors to confessionals. The crossing has tall, round-headed arches, and a panelled wooden ceiling. The sanctuary is paved with polychrome marble laid in geometric patterns. The coloured marble altar, with detached shafts and foliate capitals to either side, has been brought forward, with the former gradine retained and adapted to a tabernacle throne.

Sacraments and pastoral care

The marriage preparation course comprises group meetings with the parish catechist and individual meetings with the parish priest. Each party must give notice in their own registration district, and after giving notice they must wait a minimum of 16 days before the marriage can take place.