Saint Philip Neri, Mansfield

Introduction

Saint Philip Neri in Mansfield, within the Diocese of Nottingham, was designed by Charles A Easdon of London and dated 1925. The church is a bold exercise in Italian baroque with a rich internal decorative scheme by the Hardman firm.

History

In 1862 a Mass centre was opened at Chandler's Court, Mansfield, served from Ilkeston. In 1876 Mrs Susanna White bought the Manor House in Ratcliffe Gate and put it at the disposal of Bishop Bagshawe. In 1921 Father Charles Payne became parish priest and saw the building of the new church through to completion. The foundation stone was laid by Bishop Dunn on 6 June 1924.

Father John Keogh undertook the decoration of the church and installation of paintings, completed in 1934 by John Hardman and Co., Birmingham, at a cost of £2000. In 1994 there was a major scheme of repair and sensitive reordering. A parish hall was built in 1932.

Architecture and furnishings

The church has a chancel with apse and side chapels, nave with clerestorey, aisles, north chapel and baptistry. The east end has a blind apse with pilaster buttresses and copper dome, flanked by square side chapels. The east gable has a square bell turret with cornice and blocking course, topped with a Celtic cross. The interior has a panelled barrel vault with moulded wooden ribs on corbels.

The apse has panelled walls with paintings and Corinthian pilasters, and mosaic panelled dome. The fittings include a fluted alabaster font on 4 volutes arranged as a cross. The fittings include a marble altar with suspended canopy. The fittings include marble and alabaster balustraded altar rails with wrought-iron gates, to apse and side chapels.

The church is built of brick with ashlar dressings and a Roman tile roof. The nave has five bays with concave ramped buttresses. The clerestorey has five round-arched windows on each side. The pedimented west gable has a central round-arched niche with keystone and imposts, containing a figure.

The central doorway has double flanking shafts, cornice and double doors, with semicircular hood and relief carving in tympanum. The interior is plastered and painted. The chancel has a moulded round arch with square marble piers with pedestals and moulded caps. The nave has five-bay arcades with Ionic columns, moulded round arches and clerestorey sill band.

The west end has a panelled semicircular gallery with organ, and below it a wooden porch with pairs of glazed doors. The fittings include a folding panelled pulpit and lectern, panelled choir stalls and plain benches.

Sacraments and pastoral care

Baptism preparation at Saint Philip Neri requires attending a course run regularly, with dates from the Parish Office. Baptisms are typically celebrated on a Saturday in the parish churches.

Confirmation is usually received during the first few years of secondary school and is celebrated roughly every three years for the four churches. Adults who missed confirmation can arrange to receive the sacrament by letting a priest know.

The sacrament of the sick is readily available by asking one of the priests. If housebound, parishioners can phone the Parish Office to arrange for a priest to come to them.

Those preparing for marriage should contact the priest or parish office at least six months before the hoped-for wedding date. Marriage preparation is by appointment with the Parish Priest. First Holy Communion preparation is arranged by contacting the Parish Office.

Those interested in becoming Catholic can talk to the priest, deacon or a sister at the end of Mass or contact the parish office. At the end of the catechumenate, around the beginning of Lent, catechumens are enrolled among the Elect by the Bishop at the Cathedral in Nottingham. After initiation, usually after about one month, the newly initiated make their first Confession.

Children receive Holy Communion for the first time at about age 8, with preparation organised through the Catholic schools. If a child is not at St Philip Neri's or St Joseph's primary schools, information about first Holy Communion is available from the newsletter or Parish Office. Holy Communion is brought to those unable to attend Mass through serious illness or who are housebound, arranged through the Parish Office with an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion.