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St Francis Xavier's Church (SFX) fist opened its doors on 4th December 1848. It has been staffed by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) ever since. Jesuits had been working in the Liverpool area since the 17th Century. In 1712 they built the city's first Catholic Chapel since the Reformation. A second, larger, chapel was built in 1736 only to be demolished by a mob in 1738. it was rebuilt the following year disguised as a warehouse. In 1783, some years after the suppression of the Society of Jesus, it was handed over to the Benedictines who continued to serve St Mary's until the late 1960's. St Mary's was closed in 1999.
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In 1840, eight Catholic businessmen met in the Rose & Crown pub in Liverpool to draft the following proposal:
"We the undersigned form ourselves into a provisional committee for the formation of a society with a view to erecting a Catholic Church in Liverpool to be presented to the President of Stonyhurst College".
The President of Stonyhurst College was the Jesuit Provincial.
A small Jesuit college was opened in 1843 followed by the Church 5 years later. Between the planning of the Church and its opening the Great Hunger had devastated Ireland. It was soon found that the church - which had been designed by J.J. Scholes to hold 1,000 people - was too small. In 1888 the beautiful Sodality Chapel (designed by Edmund Kirkby) was opened. This chapel is now used for most of the weekday services.
The parish flourished and by the Second World War was the largest Catholic Parish in England, with over 13,000 Catholics living within its boundaries. It had a variety of schools including SFX College - the first Catholic Secondary Grammar Day School in the country (1843) . The poor schools were founded in 1853.
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It remained a large parish until the early 1960's. At that time the College moved to the outskirts of the City, whilst nearer home the Council started to clear the slums and rehouse parishioners in other parts of the City and beyond. The area went into sharp decline. By the early 1980's there were plans to demolish the nave, but a massive, nationwide campaign was successfully fought to save the building.
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Slowly new houses have been built and the community has started to regain some of its former confidence.
Over the past few years Hope college - the only ecumenical college of higher education in the country - moved part of its campus into our disused school buildings. Their redevelopment includes accommodation for 200 students, homes for their music, fine arts, community education and drama departments. They also used to own the church building which they shared with the parish, however the building now belongs to the parish once more. |
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In 2001, two local parishes, St Joseph's and St Mary of the Angels joined with SFX to form one new parish. On December the 8th 2001, Archbishop Kelly renamed the Sodality Chapel 'The Chapel of St Mary of the Angels and St Joseph. This amalgamation has released a whole new energy and enthusiasm. A new chapter in the history of SFX has begun. |
Read the online version of Johnny Kennedy's Book on SFX Church HERE!
From Where SFX started to famous people and even Liverpool FC's Training Ground. It's all in SFX Trivia >>> |
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