Saint Francis Xavier

Introduction

Saint Francis Xavier Church in Falkirk was built to replace an earlier church destroyed by fire in 1955. Alexander Ritchie Conlon was a partner in the Edinburgh practice of Reginald Fairlie & Partners in the 1950s.

Architecture and furnishings

The large sculpture of St Francis Xavier was created by Maxwell Allan from a single block of Blaxter stone. The five triangular stained glass windows on the principal elevation, by Joseph Vickers circa 1961, depict St Francis Xavier. The clerestorey gridded windows have laminated glass panels by Felix McCullough (1964) depicting the 15 mysteries of the Rosary, the last supper and significant events in the history of the Church in Scotland. McCullough also created the artwork above the side aisles depicting the fourteen stations of the Cross.

The interior includes a Kenton stone altar with six bronze candlesticks designed by Conlon, containing bronze figures of Scottish saints. The church has mosaics in the south aisle chapels by the Casa group of Edinburgh. A R Conlon of the Reginald Fairlie Partnership designed the church in 1958-61. The church is a Modern building with a 5-bay rectangular nave, a saw-toothed sanctuary plan, and a prominent glazed and mullioned entrance tower.

The ground floor is squared artificial rubble, with pre-cast concrete slab above and dry-dashed rear and side elevations. The principal elevation bears a plaque with a carved coat of arms by Hew Lorimer. The rear elevation has an exposed concrete Latin cross at its centre. The interior's north chancel wall is exposed red brick with thirty-five gold crosses.

Windows are predominantly aluminium-framed with plate glass, and some stained glass. The tower, ground floor and vestry have flat roofs, while the nave has a pitched slate roof and the side aisles and chancel have monopitch slate roofs. Laminated glass panels above the side aisles were created by Felix McCullough. McCullough was an Edinburgh artist who created works for the Roman Catholic Church, including murals at Saint Margaret Mary's Church in Edinburgh.