St. Gerard Majella, Knowle

Introduction

Saint Gerard Majella in Knowle, within the Diocese of Clifton, began as a Redemptorist mission in 1908, with worship in a shop on Jubilee Road.

History

By 1912, the east window glass, font, Stations of the Cross and a painting of St Gerard Majella had been donated. The three Gothic altars were added in the 1920s. The Benedictines handed the church over to the parish in 1935. In 1937 the parish hall, designed by Roberts & Willman of Taunton, was built to the north. The timber forward altar, introduced after the Second Vatican Council, was replaced in stone in the 1980s, with a matching stone lectern.

Architecture and furnishings

The church is built of rock-faced, coursed Pennant stone with Bath stone dressings, and the roof is covered in Westmorland slate tiles. The west elevation has a canopied niche containing a stone statue of St Gerard Majella, with skull and crucifix. The porch and baptistery incorporate carved, attenuated quatrefoils with Benedictine shields and emblems. The interior has a marble and mosaic holy water stoup in a pink marble Gothic surround, installed after the First World War.

The C19 organ, built by John Nicholson, was originally installed at Malvern Boys School. The baptistery has an octagonal stone font supported on marble columns. The Stations of the Cross are painted panels in carved timber frames. The Lady Chapel has a Gothic altar (1929) with Perpendicular carving and a central statue of the Virgin Mary beneath a carved canopy.

The chapel at the east end of the south aisle, to St Benedict and the Holy Souls, has a Gothic altar (1924) designed by Frank Moore Jr, with stonework by R L Boulton & Sons of Cheltenham. The mosaic panels to the reredos were made in Venice and depict six angels playing musical instruments. The central three cusped panels of the stained glass east window show St Benedict and St Gerard adoring the Sacred Heart. Pugin & Pugin designed the church in a Gothic-Revival style predominantly Perpendicular, and it was built between 1908 and 1909.

The plan includes a narthex at the west end, flanked by the porch and canted baptistery, with an organ gallery above, leading into a six-bay nave. The land slopes steeply from west to east, allowing for a crypt at the eastern end which extends towards the west. The stone altar rails to the sanctuary and side chapels were installed in the 1950s, along with the oak pulpit in the nave. CAFOD activities have been a feature of life at Saint Gerard's since 1990.

Parish life

The parish's contributions have supported Women's Groups in Honduras, World Health, Education, Food, Livelihood, and in 2002/3 the 'Today, Tomorrow, Together' enterprise aiding people in South East Asia. The parish advises that anyone admitted to hospital must inform the hospital chaplain, as the hospital will not notify him.

Notable people and events

Father Horrigan remained at Saint Gerard's until his death in 1922. In 1925 the high altar was completed as a memorial to Father Horrigan. The mosaics on the back of the altar were unveiled the same year by the Prior of Douai.