St Francis Xavier Church

St Francis Xavier Church is a Roman Catholic Parish church in the city centre of Hereford, Herefordshire. The neoclassical-style church was built in 1839 and was designated a Grade II* listed building on 10 June 1952. It is in the Hereford Deanery of the Archdiocese of Cardiff.

The foundation stone of St Francis Xavier’s was laid 19 September 1837 and Queen Victoria sent her personal representative to the ceremony. The church was designed by Charles Day, an architect from Worcester, who also designed St Edmund's Church in Bury St Edmunds for the Jesuits. The building's construction cost over £16,000. It was opened on 7 August 1839, before the restoration of the English Catholic hierarchy in 1850, because of this, the church has no windows, fearing that any would be broken during the early 19th century. The church was built on the site of a chapel used by the Society of Jesus during the reformation, hence it was dedicated to St Francis Xavier, a Jesuit missionary from the 16th century who travelled to eastern and southern Asia. The Jesuits were in charge of the Catholic mission to Hereford from at least 1773 to 1858. In 1858, the Benedictines created Belmont Abbey nearby. The church was handed over to them that year. It remained in their hands until 1954 when it was given over the Archdiocese of Cardiff. In 1992, administration of it reverted to the abbey.

More information

Comments Statistics

| | Public