It may come as a surprise to many of you to hear that our church of St Mary of the Annunciation has never been consecrated. For a church to be consecrated it must be free of all debt, and the Consecration then sets the building apart for the worship of God and it passes from the profane to the sacred. The Consecration ceremony is always done by the Bishop, and the ceremonies are not dissimilar to those of Baptism. The walls are sprinkled with Holy Water and then anointed with the Oil of Chrism in the shape of crosses. Consecrated churches usually have 12 crosses around the inside walls marking the places where the walls have been anointed. It is the absence of these crosses in St Mary’s that made me question whether the church had ever been consecrated. There are records in the archives of the altars having been consecrated, but not the church itself. I would imagine the church was just blessed.

Years ago, Parish Priests had to keep a Parish Diary, and we have it recorded that Fr William Gilbert Jones who was Parish Priest at St Mary’s from 1961 to 1964 asked Bishop Edward Ellis, the then Bishop of Nottingham, who had come to the parish for Confirmation in May 1964, when he was going to consecrate the church. He replied “Next year!” Fr Jones then moved to Dollis Hill and unfortunately the Consecration never took place.

Nottingham Diocese has confirmed that St Mary’s has not been consecrated, and with 2025 being a Holy Year, and also the centenary of our present church, it seems a significant moment to do it. The original church of St Mary’s consisted of what is now the sanctuary area with the entrance being through what is now the Baptistery, and dates from 1834. The Rosminian Fathers who have had charge of the parish since 1841 extended the church to what it is today in 1925.

The present High Altar has not been consecrated either. It was constructed in the early 1970s to enable Mass to be said facing the people. They took the Last Supper Sculpture from the original High Altar, which is still there behind, and constructed the present altar around it. I would imagine Bishop Ellis had intended consecrating it at the same time as the church.

So, finally Bishop Patrick will come to St Mary’s to consecrate the church and the High Altar at a special Mass on Thursday 1^st May 2025 at 7pm, the Feast of St Joseph the Worker. This will be the first time a church has been consecrated in the diocese for some years, so it really will be an historic occasion and particularly special for us as a parish, and no doubt we will receive many graces from it. We look forward to this day with great joy!

Fr Paul Gillham, IC