Chapter II: The Priests of the Nineteenth Century

The exterior of St. Francis's Church.

The building of St. Francis's 

While Canon Buquet was striving to develop the parish of St. Werburgh's, the Franciscan mission was passing through unusually difficult times.27 Not long after the laying of the foundation stone of the new church, in 1862, the contractor failed, and no-one could be found to complete the contract according to the original agreement. While negotiations were in hand for the continuation of the work, two unforeseen disasters brought the whole project to a halt. In October, 1863, an earthquake occurred, which shook the building so badly that the whole of the east gable had to be taken down. This had just been rebuilt, and the whole church, except for the sanctuary, re-roofed, when on the morning of December 3rd, a hurricane struck the building, wrecking it almost entirely. The City authorities condemned what remained standing as unsafe, and this too had to be pulled down.

Refusing to give in, the Franciscans erected on the site a temporary wooden chapel, which was capable of holding five hundred people. This was opened on June 16th, 1864, and continued to be used for Mass during the next ten years.

In 1873, Father Venantius, the first superior of St. Francis's, was succeeded by Father Pacificus. The new Guardian immediately set about the task of building a permanent church. As work proceeded, the wooden chapel had to be dismantled. In order to provide Sunday Mass, the friars used the Music Hall in St. Werburgh's Street, once a medieval church. On weekdays, Mass was said in their own private chapel, in their house at 13 Cuppin Street. On April 29th, 1875, the new church of St. Francis was solemnly opened, in presence of Cardinal Manning, Bishop Brown and a large number of clergy, as well as the Earl of Denbigh and the Mayor of Chester. Bishop Hedley, the Auxiliary of Newport, sang the Mass, and the Cardinal preached. The day ended with a solemn Benediction, given by the Cardinal, and Bishop Hedley preached.

During this period, the Franciscan community consisted of three members, Father Venantius Jansen, Father Engelbert Van Dieren and Father Nicholas Mazzerini. As yet, they had no permanent house, but were living in cramped quarters where, to add to their trials over their church, it was difficult to carry out their religious observances. To complete their foundation in Chester, where in pre-Reformation days the "Grey Friars" had been so popular, they needed a proper friary. The foundation stone of their new home was laid on August 3rd, 1875. The day itself was a propitious one, for it followed the great Franciscan feast of the Portiuncula, or the "little Portion" of St. Mary of the Angels, which St. Francis made the first home of the Order. It was fitting also that the foundation stone should be laid by Viscount Fielding, the Earl of Denbigh. The Viscount was a great friend and benefactor of the Capuchins, ever since their arrival at Pantasaph, in North Wales, in 1853, three years after his reception into the Church.

The new friary, beside the church in Grosvenor Street, was a plain red-brick building, and its interior, in accordance with Franciscan poverty, was simplicity itself. Two reception rooms, a library, a refectory and a kitchen comprised the ground floor, and above, there were seventeen private rooms, or "cells", to use a monastic phrase, for the use of the brethren. So large a number of rooms for such a small community might, perhaps, have seemed superfluous. Twelve months later, however, they were all in demand, for the first meeting in England of the General Chapter of the Order took place in Chester, and then every room available would have been used.

The cost of the new friary was £2,000, a sum which was largely defrayed by the generosity of the friends of the Capuchins. Among those who contributed were the Duke of Norfolk, the Earl of Denbigh, and several well-known Catholic families in Chester, the Tophams, the Tatlocks, the Burtons and others. The building had been designed by the Liverpool architect and contemporary of Edmund Kirby, James O'Byrne, but many of the interior fittings were the work of the friars themselves, some of whom came over from Pantasaph to do it. For instance, the carving of the choir stalls in the private chapel was the work of an Italian friar, who was responsible for similar stalls at Pantasaph.

The solemn opening of the new friary took place on Wednesday, July 19th, 1876, just a week after the opening of St. Werburgh's church. The ceremony was preceded by a solemn High Mass, in the church of St. Francis, during which a special voluntary choir sang Mozart's Mass. Father Pacificus, the chief celebrant, spoke movingly in his sermon, of the gratitude of the friars towards all those who had made it possible for them "to be seen again in their own monastery, in the ancient city of Chester, trying by their simplicity and fervour both among the rich and the poor, to gain souls to Jesus Christ". At the conclusion of the Mass, a procession was formed, and all followed Father Pacificus through the building, as he solemnly blessed each room in turn. After that, the house was open for the week, so that all who wished might visit it.

The celebrations all through those long July days of 1876, first at St. Werburgh's and then at St. Francis's, must have caused no little astonishment to the good folk of Chester. They could hardly have missed noticing the arrival of the various dignitaries, lay and ecclesiastical, or the flags which decorated the new church and friary in the busy Grosvenor Street. That such "goings-on" could not only be aIlowed, but be so fully and favourably reported in the local press, gives us an indication of the position now enjoyed by the Catholic Church in Chester. It was well summed up by Bishop Brown, when he returned to St. Francis's church on July 22nd. After accepting an illuminated address of congratulation and a purse containing twenty five gold sovereigns, to mark his episcopal silver jubilee, he spoke of the changes which had taken place in Chester during his twenty five years as Bishop of Shrewsbury. At his first Visitation, he said, there were no more than seven hundred Catholics, one small chapel, and but thirty two children attending school. Now they had two churches, and schools to accommodate all the Catholic children of the place. It is hardly surprising that he left the church to the strains of the "Te Deum" and "Faith of our Fathers". The Catholics in Chester were beginning to reap with joy what their forefathers had sown with tears!