St Mary

Introduction

In 1889 a new wooden ceiling, organ gallery, and organ were erected, and the services of Brother Mark were used for decoration of the sanctuary and church.

History

The altar rails were removed and the sanctuary was extended about three feet into the nave. In 1916, during a storm, a tree in the graveyard was uprooted and its branches caught the steeple and hurled it to fragments. A new cross was erected on Saturday June 12, 1937, on the roof of the church to replace the one broken off many years earlier. In May 1954 the church steeple was struck by lightning and partly demolished.

Architecture and furnishings

The church is in Decorated Gothic style with a nave, lower chancel, south porch, and ashlar southwest spirelet. The building is of rubble stone with ashlar dressings, steep slate gabled roofs with coped gables, cross finials, and terracotta ridge tiles. Inside, the walls are painted stucco and the ceiling is a boarded timber structure of four cants. The north wall has a four-bay arcade with pointed arches, round columns, and moulded caps intended for a north aisle, while the south wall has a similar two-bay arcade for a proposed south chapel.

The east window of 1852 depicts the life of Christ in three richly coloured sexfoils, probably by the Hardman firm. Nave windows of about 1892 are by Mayer of Munich. A small octagonal stone font dates from 1889. The altar, by Hansom, is of painted Caen stone with three trefoiled arches on coloured marble colonettes and carved spandrels.

A new Holy Door of Mercy was created in the north wall in 2016. The High Altar was consecrated in June 1912 by Bishop Mostyn, the gift of an anonymous donor, and was made and erected by Messrs Wall of Cheltenham. In 1938 Father Moran donated the Stations of the Cross from the old church in Lloyd Street, Llanelly to Carmarthen. A bell near the steps of the church, emblazoned with the Passionist Sign, was installed on the occasion of the Silver Jubilee in the priesthood of Father Peter Paul Smyth on 18th April 1895. The holy water stoup was donated to Saint Mary’s in 1892 by Edward Spurrell, of King Street.

Music and liturgy

A church choir was reformed in January 1971, with an appeal for all who could sing to join, and it was announced that there would be singing at all Masses. The organ gallery at the west end houses a pipe organ.

Parish life

The Guild of Our Lady of Ransom was established in 1891. In 1896 permission was given to establish the Apostleship of Prayer and the League of the Sacred Heart. In May 1909 the Catholic Mothers Needlework Guild was started in Carmarthen, with Fr George Dobson elected as honorary President. The Confraternity of the Passion for the men was established during the Mission preached in the church by Fr Hilary, Provincial Consultor, in 1910.

1938 saw the setting up of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine study circle at the express wish of the Bishop. In February 1945 a Boys Club was formed in St Mary’s Hall under the care of Sr Henri and Fr Rector as Chaplain. In November 1948 Fr Anthony started a Youth Club in the parish which was very successful. The Union of Catholic Mothers was formed in Carmarthen in 1953.

On 9th April 1972 it was announced that a Conference of the Society of St Vincent de Paul had been set up in our parish. A Boxing Club started in October 1979, catering for Boys from the age of 7 years in the Youth Club building, under the auspices of St Mary’s Club.

Saint Mary’s Parish Centre was built by parishioners of Saint Mary’s Church, and is at the hub of parish life, and is made available for use in the wider community. The Passionists attended the various stations at Cardigan, Burry Port, Aberystwyth, Llandrinclod Wells, Ammanford, Llandovery and Llandeilo. In 1911, the Passionist Fathers founded a mission at Ammanford. The Llandrindod Wells mission was administered from Carmarthen from 1895 until 1911 and later from Brecon.

Cardigan had been served occasionally from Carmarthen since 1854 and with the arrival of the Passionist Fathers, Mass was said there twice a year. The Travelling Mission was established in February 1949 to minister to the spiritual needs of isolated Catholics.

Mrs Arengo Cross of Abermarlais opened a school for poor children at Carmarthen in 1854. In the late 1860s, a school building was constructed on a site of four or five old houses in Dame Street (later known as Mill Street). In July 1919 St Winefride’s Convent school was closed, a casualty of the Fisher Education Act. The new Catholic school premises were erected on the field adjoining St Mary’s Catholic Church.

In 1966 work began on extending the school, with three new Junior class rooms and the conversion of the four existing classrooms into two Infant classrooms. A Junior Presidium of the Legion of Mary for young people held its first meeting on 21st May 1984. The Passionist Order remained until 1986.