This is the first article of a series by Fr. Black on his memories of his time as Superior of the Society of Saint Pius X in the United Kingdom. In it, Fr. Black describes how he came to buy the magnificent chapel at Woking, England.
We are very grateful to Fr. Black for allowing this series to be reproduced at Pax Orbis.
Church of the Holy Cross, Woking
by Fr. Edward Black
Miss Margaret Bradley, now deceased, was a long-time member of our
congregation in London. She was a quiet, seemingly timid, lady who
first came to my attention after a Mass which I celebrated in Southend-on-Sea, (the town in which she lived) in late 1993 or very early 1994.
In conversation after the Mass, she informed that she had told her great friend Jonathan Guinness, Lord Moyne, (of the renowned brewing family) so much about me and that he was very keen to meet me. I found this quite surprising and highly improbable as it appeared to me to be a very unlikely type of friendship. However, she mentioned that Lord Moyne wished to write a newspaper article about our Society, since he also acted as a part-time journalist, as well as regularly attending the House of Lords as an hereditary peer and so, since nothing could be lost by assenting, I agreed to meet him.
To my even greater surprise he did indeed contact me and came to visit me at our house in Wimbledon to collect information for the article which he was writing, and which was subsequently published. I expected that this would be the end of our relationship but, in fact, Miss Bradley later asked if I would agree to have lunch with him and herself one day. This duly took place at the Charing Cross Hotel and it was very congenial and pleasant.
Later again, Miss Bradley informed me that Lord Moyne had so enjoyed my conversation that he would very much like to invite me to lunch again at the House of Lords but was hesitant to do so because he feared that it would not be an appropriate venue for a person as spiritual as myself (!) In fact, I had already dined at the Lords on a few occasions as, for a long time Lord and Lady Murton of Lindisfarne had been very enthusiastic long-term supporters of our Society and attended regularly at our church in London. They were very kind to me personally and I visited the House with them a few times over the years. I especially remember, through their generosity, that in 1988 I was able to assist at the State opening of Parliament in the Royal Gallery (the room through which the monarch passes in procession to the throne wearing the crown and state robes).
Being a patriot, confirmed monarchist and enthusiastic admirer of the state ceremonial, this was an experience which remains engraved on my memory. I therefore assured her that Lord Moyne need have no reservations in that regard and that I was very happy to meet them there. These meetings happened a few times subsequently during 1994, so eventually I got to know Miss Bradley fairly well.
In the course of time, she revealed that she had been a nun in the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary. She was posted in Zanzibar when that country became independent in 1964. This event was immediately followed by a bloody revolution during which terrible atrocities occurred. She told me that she had been attached to a stake on the beach to be drowned by the incoming tide but was miraculously saved at the last minute in order to avoid an international incident since she was a British subject; unlike many of the native nuns. This, of course, took a terrible toll on her physical and mental health so that she was in a pitiful state when she returned to England. Despite being a Catholic nun she was cared for at Saint Peter’s Convent in Woking (an Anglican community) since her sister was working there at the time.
Indeed, she explained that, in fact, her sister was still working there but unfortunately the huge convent buildings were now for sale because the community had so diminished in numbers and grown so elderly, that they could no longer maintain them. The Sisters had moved into a small new modern convent which they had just recently built on part of the extensive property. It now appeared that the convent would be transformed into luxury flats; a fate which was becoming quite a common occurrence at various religious houses at the time. However, the chapel was magnificent and a Grade 1 Listed Building, so would probably present something of a headache to the developers of the site who would be very restricted indeed in the use which they could make of it.
I was by then becoming something of a veteran in buying old churches so I knew that this would most certainly be the case and therefore it would likely be possible to buy the church, at a very good price. Accordingly, I contacted the developer and arranged to view the chapel on 17th January 1994. I was, indeed, overwhelmed by its magnificence. This church is in fact a miniature cathedral consisting of nave, long choir filled with carved oak canopied choirstalls, apsidal sanctuary with inlaid marble floors, carved alabaster altar and Baldachino, windows filled with the choicest stained glass, large side chapel, and breath-takingly beautiful crypt chapel.
The church was the chapel of the former (Anglican) Convent of Saint
Peter and the second largest private chapel in Britain. Lancing College
chapel is just a few inches longer! It was designed by the renowned
Victorian architect John Loughborough Pearson whose most famous
work is Truro Cathedral in Cornwall.
As this building was designed as a conventual church the choir is a very prominent feature, being raised eight steps above the nave and separated from it by a carved oak screen and hanging rood. Although the church is constructed of brick the interior walls are faced with stone and the ceiling is stone vaulted. The floor of the choir is of inlaid marbles. This is repeated but in a much richer and ornate design in the floor of the sanctuary.
The High Altar and Baldachino are of carved alabaster. Panels on the front of the altar depict scenes from the life of Our Lord: the Nativity, the Baptism, the Agony in the Garden and the Resurrection. The centre panel is of the Ascended Christ on His Throne of Glory which symbolises (Philippians Chapter II) “He humbled Himself and came down” So the King of Glory surrounded by Angels is at the front of the altar, while above the Baldachino is the Infant Christ worshipped by shepherds. There are eight carved figures of saints on the spires of the Baldachino representing Saints John, Paul, Barnabas, Christopher, Bernard, Luke, Francis and Benedict.
The Baldachino is supported on four marble pillars of red marble from the Atlas Mountains in North Africa and are of great beauty. This marble had apparently never been brought to Britain before and was specially ordered by the architect for this chapel. It is also used for the altar table and gradines. The three steps into the sanctuary are of black, red and white marble respectively representing Man’s Fallen state – the Redemption – the cleansing of Man and the three steps of the Mystical Life, the Purgative, Illuminative and Unitive. To the left of the High Altar there is a splendid statue of Our Lady and the Child Jesus in a canopied niche, the whole carved in alabaster.
The stained-glass windows in the church are also of the highest quality and are by the famous firm of Clayton and Bell. They were also designed by Pearson and represent the Glorious Mysteries in the Life of Our Lord. The central light of the north apse shows the Transfiguration and, below, the Annunciation, the east apse the Resurrection and below, the Adoration of the Magi and the South apse the Ascension and, below, the Presentation in the Temple. Other windows represent the Sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham and the Meeting of Abraham and Melchisedech. Two beautiful windows depict St Stephen and St Alban.
If all this were not enough the visitor may then descend to the exquisite crypt chapel which is decorated in the Byzantine style in contrast to the Gothic of the main church. Columns of green Connemara marble support the mosaic covered ceiling on which are depicted angels holding scrolls of the Great “O” Antiphons of the Advent Liturgy “O Sapientia… O Radix Jesse” etc. The walls of the sanctuary are of inlaid marble and mosaics. The theme of this chapel is the Sacred Passion. Around the sanctuary is a frieze inscribed “Sic enim Deus dilexit mundum ut filium unigenitum daret ut omnis qui credit in eum non pereat sed habeat vitam aetermum” (Jn III 16) The windows are filled with stained glass showing angels with the Instruments of the Passion in their hands.
The altar in this chapel is particularly fine being made of Carrera marble, porphyry, lapis lazuli, and jasper. The reredos is made of beaten copper, gilt, inserted with many semi-precious stones and depicting fine scenes of the Passion, with the Ascended Christ and the Four Evangelists on the tabernacle door.
This description gives some idea of the magnificence of this church. I
was quite overwhelmed and somewhat ecstatic by my visit, as such a
church was beyond my wildest dreams, especially after having
celebrated Mass for most of my priestly life in private homes or public
Halls. I had thought that the acquisition of the wonderful convent at
Bristol would be the high point of my administration and it hardly
seemed possible that that any greater church would ever be within our
reach. Its acquisition would certainly be a great source of encouragement and comfort to our Faithful and a splendid tribute to the glory of God to mark the 25th anniversary of our Society in Britain
which was soon to take place.
However, the developer, relying on the notion that such a building
would cost millions to construct in modern times, suggested that he
expected £250,000 which was an enormous sum at that time and well
beyond anything which we could afford. However, I remained quite
confident, as I knew that the building and its furnishings were too fine
to be altered and that he would inevitably have to reduce this price.
After I had explained this to Miss Bradley, she eventually came back to
me with the remarkable news that she had contacted Lord Moyne’s
daughter, Mrs Daphne Niarchos, the wife of the super-wealthy Greek
shipping magnate. Apparently, she had long had an especial affection
for Miss Bradley and offered to provide the money necessary to
purchase the chapel. The only condition was that I was not to inform
Lord Moyne about the matter as she wanted to keep her charitable
donations entirely private.
I remained hesitant however, as I was convinced that the chapel would ultimately be able to be purchased for much less and, being a Scotsman, I do not believe in spending money unnecessarily – even that of multi- millionaires! I therefore resolved that we should wait for a little while and contact Mrs Niarchos again once a reasonable price had been agreed.
During this time, as a courtesy, I visited the Reverend Mother of the
convent to explain that our Society was hoping to be her next-door neighbour. Miss Bradley’s sister was still working at the convent, and I
did not wish the community to discover this news from another source.
Reverend Mother Margaret Paul was a delightful lady who received me
very kindly and was very pleased and relieved to learn that the chapel
was to be saved for Christian worship. In fact, she was dismayed when
I revealed the price to her and she claimed that, if she had only known
that we wanted the chapel, she would have provided it gratis!
Although a final price had not been agreed the developer was aware of
our serious interest in the chapel. It would, of course, be necessary to
obtain planning permission to bring a private chapel into public use and this would have to be reconciled with the development of the private flats. This would obviously take some considerable time to obtain.
In the meantime, the occasional lunches at the House of Lords
continued during which Miss Bradley would ask questions about the
welfare of Lord Moyne’s children, including Daphne Niarchos and
other family members etc. However, nothing about Woking was ever
mentioned.
It eventually transpired that Mrs Niarchos apparently was keen to meet me during her visits to London but, for various reasons, this never transpired. As time went on, far from being discouraged, I became more ambitious. Work had not yet begun on transforming the Convent into flats and it was still at the planning stage. Since Mrs Niarchos was willing to provide such a great sum of money, I began to wonder if it might be possible to acquire, in addition to the chapel, a small wing of the extensive convent buildings situated to the south of the chapel. This would have provided a residence for priests with access into the chapel, a small garden and access direct from the street to the chapel which would not have impinged on the residents of the flats.
This plan proved acceptable to the developer if a sum of £750,000 were agreed. Miss Bradley then contacted Mrs Niarchos who was only too willing to provide the money – it was really nothing to her! For some complicated reason, however, she did not wish to transfer the money direct to the Society but rather to Miss Bradley who was then to pass the sum on to us. As a safety net for the Society, therefore, it was Miss Bradley who was to be responsible for purchasing the property in case anything should go wrong.
If this all appeared too good to be true, I was able to reflect on the fact
that that Lady Kinnoull, an heiress of Wills Tobacco renown, had
provided financial aid to Archbishop Lefebvre in the early days of the
Society and had been a consistent benefactress of our Society ever
since, even although she, like Mrs Niarchos, had actually only a very
tenuous personal relationship with it.
These new developments, of course, meant longer delays in the negotiations… Draft Contracts were being passed back and forth etc, and Miss Bradley was finding as many opportunities as possible to meet in order to discuss these matters and various other complications which might arise (e.g. at one stage she decided that the sale could not proceed as the chapel had been desecrated since the developer had allowed a film to be made inside during the time that it was vacant).
These meetings usually took place at one of the great railway hotels or sometimes at the Savoy. I must confess that I was beginning to have some misgivings about how this saga would end but the promised prize was great and I reminded myself that wealthy people can afford to indulge in eccentricities…. I was conscious that Miss Bradley was obviously enjoying all of this. However, I reflected that she deserved some little recompense for arranging this incredible benefaction, for there was no doubt that Lord Moyne and Miss Bradley were certainly friends and he and his daughter were very wealthy.
On 8th August 1995 Miss Bradley unexpectedly appeared at the front door of our house in Wimbledon in a state of some agitation. She explained that she had visited her consultant that very morning and had been informed that various long term health problems, which she had suffered because of her experiences in Zanzibar, were now very serious and probably terminal.
Although I counselled her as best I could and gave her the sacraments, I could not help feeling this was a remarkable coincidence since she was due to sign the Exchange of Contracts at our solicitor’s office in Gray’s Inn the following day. Naturally, she was now too ill and upset to be able to keep this appointment. I offered to drive her to Fenchurch Street Station for her journey home and suggested that it might be possible to sign the contract that very day since Gray’s Inn was on the way to the station. I ventured to suggest that once this matter was finally settled it would remove all anxiety concerning it from her mind. I therefore quickly rang the solicitors who readily agreed, even although the deposit was not to be transferred to their account until the following day.
On arrival at the office the solicitor gravely explained in detail her legal obligations in signing this contract for such a large sum of money. She received this information without comment. Then her hand hovered over the pages for a few moments, and she duly signed. I inwardly heaved a huge sigh of relief …… On the journey to the station, she appeared much more relaxed and agreed that she was greatly relieved that the whole matter was at last concluded. In fact, she claimed to feel so much better and insisted that we dine at the Great Eastern Hotel to celebrate before she took her train home.
Very early in the morning of the next day I received a call from Miss Bradley explaining that she had felt obliged to contact Mrs Niarchos who was so shocked and upset to learn that she might be dying that she had insisted a hold be put on the deposit money in favour of paying the entire sum to our solicitors in order to save any further worry; in view of the fact that Miss Bradley was now due to go into hospital for some time. However, I was assured that Mrs Niarchos would be back in London within the next two weeks and she had asked if we could meet at the Savoy Hotel on 29th August to celebrate the purchase since she would arrange that the complete monies would be transferred to our solicitor’s account on that very day.
By now, both I and our solicitors had abandoned all hope. However, I was still prepared to clutch at this final straw. The day duly arrived and I presented myself at the Savoy around midday. As I anticipated, Miss Bradley was there to meet me alone. She explained that since Mrs Niarchos was coming to London that morning on her private plane, she could not be exactly sure of the time that she would arrive at the hotel. Accordingly, we should simply go in to lunch and she would make an appearance in due course.
By then I decided that I should resignedly play out this farce. If I were to become impatient and irritated it would, of course tell against me. If I decided to politely take my leave, I would be sure to learn that Mrs Niarchos had arrived almost immediately that I took my departure. I therefore decided to make the best of the situation and simply enjoy Miss Bradley’s hospitality in this excellent hotel. I cannot remember the details of the meal except for the fact that we enjoyed an excellent bottle of Gevrey-Chambertin…
Well into the meal the Head Waiter approached and whispered in my ear that the hotel had received a telephone call from Mrs Niarchos asking that apologies be presented to me on her behalf. She was on her way and would arrive within the next couple of hours. Since the message was delivered with some discretion, Miss Bradley asked what he had said. I explained and expressed my wonder that the waiter knew exactly who I was. It was obvious, she replied, as Mrs Niarchos knew that she would never be accompanied by a priest who was not wearing full clericals.
Shortly after lunch, Afternoon Tea was served. When I eventually began to express my doubts that Mrs Niarchos would ever arrive, Miss Bradley then suggested that perhaps a mistake had been made and that we were perhaps supposed to have met at the Ritz where she kept a suite rooms. I pointed out that this was quite impossible since she had conveyed the telephone message to us at the Savoy. I did suggest, however, that she ring the Ritz to find out if Mrs Niarchos was in residence. Accordingly, she went to the reception desk ostensibly do this and returned with the news that Mrs Niarchos was not there.
After some time had elapsed in conversation, Miss Bradley indicated
that we should have dinner! I declined her kind invitation as I had no
appetite, so we simply had drinks instead. Finally, I explained that I
was now obliged to return home, and I left the Savoy at 8:10 pm.
Very early the following day Miss Bradley rang to inform me that Mrs
Niarchos had indeed arrived in London very late the previous evening.
When I (probably rather sarcastically) suggested that therefore we might meet that very day, she quickly explained that Mrs Niarchos was a very busy woman and was obliged, for business reasons, to move on …… However, we would be able to meet in the next couple of months.
Later that morning I rang our solicitors who, of course, confirmed that the money had not been paid into their account. After two long years, this incredible saga had finally ended …… As I sat at my desk in a state of shock of the kind which one suffers when even anticipated misfortunes arrive; the telephone suddenly rang. When I answered the call, it was from one of our Faithful, Mr Christopher Newton. I cannot recall his exact words, but he said something resembling the following: Father, for a long time I have been thinking that I would like to buy a church for the use of the Society. Perhaps you might like to meet me at my Club in Piccadilly sometime so that we can discuss the matter……….
I have no idea of what I replied but it would certainly, I am sure, have
been discouraging and possibly discourteous. Unfortunately, it was
impossible, at that time, to give an adequate explanation of my manifest lack of interest or enthusiasm without lengthy explanation and the danger of bringing Miss Bradley into disrepute. In fact, as it happens, he did later very generously provide a small church in Brighton for the Society, but this was after my tenure as Superior had come to an end.
Shortly afterwards I wrote to Lord Moyne describing all that had happened. As I anticipated, he sent me a kind reply confirming that the entire story was a complete fantasy invented by Miss Bradley. Although his reply was kind and gracious, I never met him again and therefore never discovered the true nature of his relationship with Miss Bradley. As I henceforth severed personal contact with her, I likewise never discovered what her motivation in living this fantasy might have been. Some days later I visited Mother Margaret Paul to tell her my story, and she then informed me that Miss Bradley had never been a nun and had never stayed at the Woking convent.
Although I expected a sharp reaction from the vendors to the sale
falling through; they thankfully took the matter remarkably well and
did not pursue Miss Bradley for Breach of Contract. This would have
been futile, in any event, as she was not a person of financial means.
I thought, therefore, that this sad story was finally concluded. However, some time later, to my very great surprise, I received a call from the estate agents on 25th of January 1996, letting me understand that ‘your chapel ‘ was still available and that the vendors would be prepared to accept £100,000. After some discussion, the price was finally settled at £95,000 on the Feast of the Purification and the sale completed on 28th March.
It was decided to rename the chapel the Church of the Holy Cross and
I was privileged, therefore, to celebrate the first Mass in the church at
1pm on the Feast of the Finding of the Holy Cross, 3rd May 1996, at the High Altar in the upper church.
It was indeed as great joy to celebrate this Mass in our new ‘cathedral’ in the Silver Jubilee year of the Society in Britain. I could not fail to notice that Margaret Bradley and her sister were present in the congregation at this Mass which was followed by Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in the exquisite crypt chapel all afternoon until a second Mass took place at 7 pm. Later that year the church was solemnly blessed by Bishop Fellay on Sunday 4th August.
by Fr. Edward Black, SSPX. Republished here with kind permission.
Fr. Black was Superior of the Society of Saint Pius X in the United Kingdom from 1978 until 2000. As there were only five priests in Britain at any one time during those years, Fr. Black remained the constant factor amongst them and so makes a valuable contribution to the Society’s history through his memoirs.
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