Brompton Oratory
| Brompton Oratory | |
|---|---|
Brompton Oratory facade
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| Coordinates: 51°29′50″N 0°10′11″W / 51.49722°N 0.16972°W | |
| Location | London, SW7 |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| Website | Brompton Oratory |
| History | |
| Dedication | Immaculate Heart of Mary |
| Consecrated | 1884 |
| Architecture | |
| Heritage designation | Grade II* listed |
| Designated | 1969 |
| Architect(s) | Herbert Gribble |
| Style | Italian Baroque |
| Groundbreaking | 1880 |
| Completed | 1884 |
| Specifications | |
| Materials | Portland stone |
| Administration | |
| Parish | Oratory |
| Deanery | Kensington and Chelsea |
| Diocese | Westminster |
| Province | Westminster |
| Clergy | |
| Archbishop | Vincent Nichols |
| Provost | Julian Large |
The Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, or as named in its Grade II* architectural listing, The Oratory, is a large neo-classical Roman Catholic church in Kensington, London. It is traditionally known as Brompton Oratory, which distinguishes it as a church rather than its connected clergy and religious community. The church is closely connected with the London Oratory School, a boys' school founded by the priests from London Oratory. Its priests celebrate Mass daily in the two main forms, frequently conduct ceremonies for well-known people, as it works as an extra-parochial church, and two of its three choirs have published physical copy and digital audio albums.
The church is on the A4 where it becomes Brompton Road, next to the Victoria and Albert Museum, where the street briefly becomes Thurloe Place and Cromwell Gardens but after that neighbouring museum the road becomes Cromwell Road which gradually widens via the Hammersmith Flyover into the M4. The A308 road starts opposite the building which takes up the name Brompton Road. It therefore marks an important junction.
John Henry Newman was received into the Roman Catholic Church in 1845. He later founded the Birmingham Oratory, dedicated to Saint Philip Neri. Other former Anglicans, including Frederick William Faber, briefly established a London Oratory in premises near Charing Cross. Faber's growing following purchased a 3.5-acre (14,000 m2) property in November 1852 for £16,000; in the (then) rapidly developing suburb (and former village) of Brompton, later to be more commonly known as South Kensington. An Oratory House was built at first, followed shortly by a temporary church; both designed by Joseph John Scoles. An appeal was then launched in 1874 for funds to build a church. Within the Oratory House is a chapel, known as the Little Oratory.
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