Photo-a-Day  (Friday, 2nd February, 2024)

It is a beautiful church inside and outside.
There's also a lingering smell of the past that you do get in old churches.

Post 1962 Vatican ll reordering evident - the nave altar facing the pews. The original high altar remains, in situ, with the tabernacle behind. In some churches, especially in France, the high altar was removed altogether.
Some serious money spent on this building in the past.
Congregations are falling throughout the West. I don't know how many people attend here but I doubt whether their weekly contributions would cover the maintenance costs of a building like this.
Colin, a fine photo and a credit to Wigan.

That's a very grand church. I like the plain glass of the windows that let all the light in & the very colourful stained glass panels that are placed in the centre. Reminds me of a church we went into when on the island of Samos in Greece. That was very ornate & had a dark blue ceiling studded with gold stars. Sadly the Samos church was badly damaged in the earthquake & has not been reopened for worship.
Good photo Colin, thanks.

Lovely photo. It seems to be a very pleasant and peaceful place. A friend, (who is a photo-a-day viewer), said a prayer for me in here last year when I had to have a rather worrying scan, and it is lovely to see the place where she did so.

Gary, I remember that time on 1962, it was a time of great change in the Catholic Church. A new alter was installed so that the priest faced the congregation and it was the end of the Latin Mass that caused great controversy especially in France causing a near schism.
I can still recite The Lords Prayer and sing Come All Ye Faithful in Latin, somethings never leave you.

Lovely photo.
(Colin - sorry to hijack your post but I'm trying to contact "Helen of Troy" as I'm related to her godmother, Edith Holland.
Helen please let me know if you'd like my email address so we can reminisce.)

Colin, I am not Catholic but I remember learning Oh Come All Ye Faithful in Latin at school ,(Adeste Fidelis), and can still sing it, (although I'm better reciting it as my singing voice leaves a lot to be desired!). It is indeed amazing how things we learned at school still stick in our minds....as you say, some things never leave you. I can even recall songs and poems I learned in what we used to call "The Babies' Class" before it became "Reception".

On St Patrick,s Day March 17th the Senior girls would sing the Mass in Latin after weeks of learning I can still sing The Credo when I hear the music.
( not that I have a good singing voice!)
“ Credo in unum Deum…..Patrem omnipotem..” …. It was a great day in the parish when the church was full to the rafters.

Yes Irene, I can sing it in Latin ..somehow I think it sounds nicer in Latin… I just love these photo of St John’s church and am waiting for St Mary’s to be shown, Father John Johnson .. the priest there went to my School, if you’d known him then you could tell that he’d finish up a priest, everything about him pointed to it.. he’s lovely.

Edith’s cousin, perhaps Helen will pick up on this and if she wishes she will post a message for you.
Hope this helps.

Great photo Colin.
It is a wonderful church, imposing, ornate and spacious. When the church was renovated about 25 years ago (??), I recall reading an article that the flooring was a custom job undertaken by Milliken, the US flooring company, that has its European HQ in Beech Hill. The flooring pattern was designed to replicate the original tile mosaics, and I must say it still looks as new today as when it was first installed.

Not mad on this church,either inside or out.Always looks like a pagan temple to me.

This photo seems to make it more attractive than it actually is,outside is very unappealing

Maureen, now you have mentioned St. Mary's, I think it was there, rather than St. John's, where our fellow p-a-d friend said a prayer for me, but the place doesn't matter; it was a lovely, kind gesture at a worrying time and touched me greatly.

Lovely pic Colin, thanks for sharing.

Mo why wait to see a photo, you only live in Wigan so what's stopping you from visiting the church yourself.

John,I see it whenever I go to my dentist,It is a very steep walk and my breathing isn't up to much..mind you having said that last week when a had to visit my dentist I did find a very convenient short cut there.. so John have you anything nice to say.
Irene, I always think a prayer said for anyone is lovely..I live on a very very busy main road and the number of ambulances that go screaming past is unbelievable and each time one passes I always say a tiny prayer.

Some Churches these days are not always opened all day as they used to be to ‘pop’ inside for a quiet moment. I know St Mary’s is though…not so St John’s unless it’s for Mass. A sign of the times…

Nice photo Colin. I have never been in Saint Johns, but I was a altar boy at Saint Marys in the early fifties. I used to serve 7.30 am mass alone, often, as at that time we lived in Dicconson Terrace just across the road.

Maureen, I also live on a very busy main road and do exactly the same when an ambulance passes with the siren going.

Prefer St.Mary's Church.x

What makes it look like a pagan temple Jean? The crucifix on the altar? The saints depicted in the leaded lights of the windows? The Stations of the Cross?

Many thanks, Colin. Fingers crossed!

A ‘temple’ of prayer yes … hardly pagan.
I think of all the generations of people across the years kneeling in those old benches. Devotion to the end in their faith.

What a strange remark.

Jean, how many pagan temples have you been in.

Hello Edith's cousin. Would Edith Holland have lived in India? If it is the same Edith, she was my Godmother. I would very much like to know more & your email address

Hi Helen. Edith was my grandmother 's cousin, married to Frank and lived in Cawnpore, retired to Southport. My email is: slomax10672@gmail.com

Has anyone seen the film about the Jesuits,that Colin mentioned in his post.Its called The Mission.A very moving emotional film.With beautiful music.