St. James's, Spanish Place

St James's, Spanish Place, is a large English Gothic Catholic church on George Street in Marylebone, London, standing behind the Wallace Collection and close to Marylebone High Street. Though its address is George Street, the church keeps the name of Spanish Place, the road directly opposite — a deliberate act of memory, for this Grade II* listed building is the heir to one of London's historic embassy chapels, and its parishioners have never forgotten their debt to Spain for establishing and maintaining the Catholic mission here through the penal centuries when English Catholic worship was outlawed.

The story begins in the reign of Elizabeth I, when the Bishops of Ely let their palace and chapel at Ely Place to the Spanish Ambassador. Until the reign of Charles I the property was occupied by the High Representative of the Court of Spain, and during this period the chapel — now St Etheldreda's Church — was freely used by English Catholics, becoming something of a sanctuary for them in the manner typical of an embassy chapel, the one legal loophole through which the old faith could still be practised. After the Restoration of Charles II the Spanish Embassy was re-established in London, first on Ormond Street and then at Hertford House in Manchester Square, the building that now houses the Wallace Collection. There, in 1793–96 — shortly after the Roman Catholic Relief Act of 1791 had repealed some of the laws restricting Catholic worship — a chapel was built on the corner of Spanish Place and Charles Street (now George Street), to designs by Joseph Bonomi, largely through the efforts of Thomas Hussey, chaplain at the embassy. Most of the objects of piety in the present church are legacies from that older building. The official Spanish connection ceased in 1827, when the chapel was handed over to the London Vicariate, but an unofficial bond with the Embassy of Spain has continued ever since and is still cherished today: the personal standard of King Alfonso XIII hangs framed over the sacristy door.

From 1827 a recurring anxiety hung over the congregation — the chapel stood on leasehold property and the lease was not renewable. Funds were raised toward a site and a new church, but the neighbourhood was carved up almost entirely into great estates, and a site near the old chapel seemed impossible to find. Tradition supplies the resolution: Canon William Barry, rector toward the end of the lease, had a great devotion to the Holy Souls, and promised a hundred Masses for their repose in petition for a site. Soon after he had redeemed his promise, the site immediately opposite the old chapel came up for sale — at £30,000, the exact sum Barry and his predecessors had collected. The site was purchased and the design thrown open to competition, won by Edward Goldie — fittingly, the great-grandson of Joseph Bonomi, architect of the old chapel. The new church, partially completed, opened on Michaelmas Day, 29 September 1890. The first Solemn High Mass was celebrated by the Very Reverend and Honourable Algernon Stanley, with Father William Lockhart preaching in place of Cardinal Manning, and the congregation included the Spanish ambassador and his staff alongside a number of English Catholic bishops.

A remarkable royal moment came on 15 February 1908, when a requiem Mass was held at St James's for King Carlos I of Portugal, attended by Edward VII and Queen Alexandra — the first Catholic Mass attended by a British monarch since James II, more than two centuries earlier. The church's consecration came much later than its opening, for canon law requires that all debts on a church's construction and land be repaid first; the ceremony was planned twice and twice postponed — in 1935 because of the death of Cardinal Francis Bourne, and in 1940 because of the Second World War — before Bishop George Craven finally consecrated the church on 28 July 1949, enjoying the rare privilege of consecrating his own church, since he was at the time its parish priest and rector. Most of the archives of the old Spanish Chapel have gone to Spain, but the church preserves baptismal and marriage registers reaching back to 1732.

Architecturally, St James's is early Gothic in design, built entirely of stone with a purity of line that confers a true sense of majesty, especially in its height. The nave arches rest on pillars enriched with marble colonettes, and the groining is handled so artfully that the weight of stone never feels oppressive. The George Street entrance is a copy of the main entrance to Lichfield Cathedral, and throughout the building are details drawn from the finest thirteenth-century English Gothic — Salisbury Cathedral and parts of Westminster Abbey among the models. The chancel, by contrast, is reminiscent of the great French cathedrals, and is counted among the most artistic in London, its high arch rising to the groined roof. The heptagonal apse carries seven pointed arches filled with opus sectile: the centre panel portrays the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Our Lady and the Apostles, while the other six hold Old Testament symbols of the sacrificial and sacramental aspects of the Holy Eucharist. High on the wall above the choir stalls are two built-in gilt crowns — beneath them sat King Alfonso XIII and Queen Ena of Spain whenever they attended the church. Canopied niches at the ends hold gilt bronze statues of St James and St Anne; above is a gilt hexagonal canopy, and behind it hangs a corona of rock crystals that is lowered over the monstrance during Benediction and Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. The sanctuary floor is golden mosaic.

High on the Blandford Street side stands the large marble statue of St James the Greater, patron of the church, carrying not only the sword and palm of his martyrdom but the staff and bread wallet of the pilgrim — a nod to Compostela. Across from it stands the statue of Our Lady, Queen of Heaven, covered entirely in gold leaf except for her red shoes; made locally by a stonemason in 1840, it is reputed to be only the second statue erected in a London church after the Reformation. One quirk of the building: it is orientated contrary to usual practice, which traditionally places churches facing east so that priest and congregation face the rising sun — symbol of Christ and the Second Coming — during morning liturgy.

The organ, set in the triforium above the sanctuary, was built in 1922 by A. Hunter & Son of Clapham and voiced by the builder in the church itself to suit the building's striking and unusual acoustics; it survives exactly in its original tonal design. Hunter built fine instruments across the country, but organists and organ builders regard the St James's instrument as the finest example of his craftsmanship. Five ranks of pipes were retained from the Gray & Davison organ — previously the work of the famous eighteenth-century builder Samuel Green — that had stood in the old Spanish Chapel. The instrument has fifty-three stops on three manuals and pedals, with wind pressures ranging from three and a half inches for the flue-work to ten inches for the heavy reed.

The liturgical life of the parish remains exceptionally rich. Sunday and major feast-day worship centres on a solemn Mass in Latin with a full professional choir and organ, combining polyphony and Gregorian chant, supplemented by occasional Solemn Vespers; Mass is also celebrated several times in English and once as a Low Mass in the 1962 Roman Missal form. The church has a particular charism for the Sacrament of Confession, offered daily at set times, alongside Holy Hours and Benediction, the Rosary, and the Stations of the Cross. From a hidden embassy chapel sheltering a persecuted faith to one of London's most majestic Gothic churches, St James's, Spanish Place, remains a living link between English Catholicism and the Spanish crown that once kept its flame alight.