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Over the past century and a half,
S Paul’s has been filled with great care and love. Some of the items are excellent examples of
architectural church furniture – others, like the nave altar, are very simple
but look beautiful when they are prepared for use. |
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Click the links
below for a brief description of the main
items in the church:
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The font is used in the ceremony
of HOLY BAPTISM. This is when a person becomes a Christian through the
pouring-on of water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
and is welcomed into the community of the ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC and APOSTOLIC
CHURCH. That is why the font is near the door, the entrance into the church
building. Paul teaches that when we are baptised we die with Christ, go into the tomb with Him [the reason fonts are usually made of stone], in order to share His Risen Life. Baptism [also known as 'Christening'] is a decisive and thus very significant rite. To remind us of its importance the font is carefully decorated and has a large wooden canopy. |
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During Baptism God’s Holy Spirit is given. HOLY OILS are used in Baptism,
one to signify God’s strength for Christian commitment, and the other as a
sign of becoming Christ’s, expressed in the words of S. Paul as a member of a
royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a people set apart. People are often baptised when
they are still babies but it is never too late and adults, of any age, can
receive this Sacrament too.
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The Altar |
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The altar is the holy table on
which the PRIEST celebrates the
central act of Christian worship, the MASS: the reason this church was
built. In the Mass, also called the
EUCHARIST (thanksgiving), the LORD’s SUPPER and HOLY COMMUNION, the
once-for-all sacrifice of Christ upon the cross is re-presented, and the
bread and wine, by the power of the Holy Spirit, become Christ’s Body and
Blood, to feed and sustain believers. |
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Upon the altar stand candles, to give
it honour and to remind us that Christ is the 'Light of the World'. We cover the altar with a beautiful
coloured cloth called the frontal. The colours change with the different
seasons of the Church’s year. This starts with Advent, the period before Christmas
when we prepare ourselves to celebrate the birth of Jesus. We pray to live
better lives. Then the altar cloth is sombre purple. On Christmas Day the altar
frontal is a joyful white or even cloth of gold. We decorate the church with
flowers and many candles too. The altar cloth is lifted up to show the
Christmas crib which Saint Francis used to teach the faithful about the
mystery of Christmas.
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This church is named after SAINT PAUL,
who was an Apostle and a Martyr. An Apostle is one who is 'sent': his mission
was to bring Gentiles to faith in Christ. Martyr means 'witness' and it was
because of his teaching and unflinching faith in Christ that S. Paul was
executed in the city of Rome. He holds the sword that a Roman soldier used to
cut off his head. The shrine is decorated with red
cloth, the colour of the HOLY SPIRIT, which here stands for the blood the
blood of the martyrs. A red light burns before the shrine to give honour and
again, to denote his martyrdom. Twice a year we remember Saint
Paul with a festival. On 25th January
we remember when Saint Paul became a
Christian and on 29th June we
remember when he was made a martyr. At these times we decorate the church and have a special MASS with elaborate music. After the Mass we stay in church for a party, which is usually a splendid Lunch. This is a very old Christian tradition and is very popular. |
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The Lectern |
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This amazing Victorian Bible
stand is made of brass and was built to hold a large Bible. It is large and decorated with angels to
show how important the readings from the Bible are to us. In other churches the lectern can
be in the shape of an eagle. Our lectern was specially made for Saint Paul’s
Church and is of extraordinary quality. The Holy Bible is the inspired Word
of God and comprises the Old Testament [the Jewish Bible] and the New
Testament. It is the Church’s book and the Church was led by the Holy Spirit
to know which books should be included and which not. The Bible is a vital
part of the Church’s Holy Tradition. The angel lectern at Saint Paul’s was made by John Hardman Powell in 1885 and was moved from the North side of the aisle to its present position in 1978 when the Nave altar was constructed. It represents S. John the Divine’s vision of the angels of the Apocalypse. |
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At every major service in the
church the priest will preach a sermon from the pulpit, which is a high
platform so that everybody can see him. There is a wooden canopy which helps to
amplify the sound, although these days we also have a microphone, to make
sure that everyone can hear the priest’s teaching. During the sermon the priest
tells the people in the church, the congregation, how to understand the
readings we have heard from the bible. In the sermon the preacher seeks to
help his hearers to apply the Bible’s timeless truth to everyday
circumstances and challenges. The pulpit was designed by the first architect of the church, Richard Cromwell Carpenter, in 1848 and stood in front of the first pillar on the South side of the aisle. It was not completed until 1960 when the tester [canopy] was added. |
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This fine, carved and painted wooden screen separates the main part of the church from the CHANCEL, where the priests used to go to the High Altar. Today the main Sunday MASS is sung from the CENTRAL ALTAR, and only the choir sits in the seat behind the screen. |
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In ancient tradition the chancel
represented Heaven, as the altar is the place where heaven and earth meet. The ROOD is the large carved
cross above the screen. There is a statue of Jesus on this cross, to remind us
of his death. On either side are two statues, one of his Mother, Mary, and
the other of Saint John, the disciple he loved most. The Rood, so placed,
reminds us that we must pass through the cross to glory, following Christ. Along the bottom of the screen are paintings of various saints, painted in an old-fashioned manner called the Gothic style. You can see similar paintings in the many beautiful stained glass windows. In the middle ages, when most people couldn’t read, these pictures helped to remind the faithful people of the stories of the saints and of how brave they were during times when it was deadly dangerous to be a Christian. |
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The Rood screen was part of R.C.
Carpenter’s original design for the church in 1849. The Rood Cross and the
figures of the Blessed Virgin Mary and S. John were designed by G.F. Bodley
in 1863 but not completed until 1910.
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Jesus said he was the light of the
world, showing people the best way to live. This Pascal, or Easter, Candle is
extra large because it shines as the Light of Christ, and is a symbol of
Christ’s victory over death and sin, which Christians share in Baptism. It is set up on a very large elaborate
candle stick to show how important it is. Each Easter it is lit at the
start of the Easter Vigil, the first service of the Festival of Easter. |
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The letters on the candle are Greek:
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alpha, the first letter A in the
Greek alphabet and omega, the last letter, represent the beginning and the end of time. |
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Chi (ch) and Rho (R) the first two letters of CHRist |
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These three letters are a Greek abbreviation of the name of JESUS. |
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This beautiful statue, in the
French style, is the focus of our prayers to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the
mother of Jesus. Honoured as 'Mother of God', she
first heard God’s word and kept it before she bore Him in her womb. Mary is
an example of how all Christians should be: humble, obedient, faithful, and
trusting in God. She was given by Jesus from the cross to be a mother to all
his followers, and so is also known as 'Mother of the Church'. At festive times during the year,
the statue is adorned with a golden rose, a lace veil and a golden crown, to
show Mary as the 'Queen of Heaven'. Hail
Mary, full of grace, Blessed
art thou amongst women, Holy
Mary, Mother of God, Amen. |
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This shrine directs our prayers
towards Jesus the Good Shepherd who knows his flock as they know him. He lays
down his life for his flock. You can see that he has rescued
the lost sheep, for which he rejoices. Jesus calls us to repentance, and
no-one is beyond being reached by His Love, to be 'ransomed, healed,
restored'. Sheep have always symbolized the people of the church. |
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This sombre shrine directs our
thoughts and prayers towards the Crucifixion of Jesus. The crucifix reveals God’s
love for humanity - nothing is held back, all is given. For Christians the
cross was a battleground between good and evil, and on Easter Sunday we see
that , despite the appearance of Good Friday, Christ has won and Christians,
as His followers, share in His victory and the hope of glory. If you look around the walls of the church you will see a series of carved images showing the main events of the last day of the life of Jesus, from his trials to his death on the cross and his burial. These help the faithful to concentrate on their prayers, especially during Lent, the period of forty days before the great festival of Easter, when we remember that Jesus rose from the dead. All these Stations of the Cross are displayed on a separate page: Stations of the Cross. |
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The word means 'tent'. It is in
the tabernacle [the veiled safe], kept on the high altar, that the
Sacramental Body of Jesus Christ [the consecrated wafer] is kept for the
needs of the sick and dying, and as a focus of prayer. It is the most holy
place in the church. Christ said that he is the Bread
of Life, and it is in the Holy Communion of His Body and Blood that
Christians are fed, strengthened and kept in Eternal Life. Holy Communion is
a foretaste of the Heavenly Banquet.
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A white light perpetually burns
before the Blessed Sacrament indicating the reality of Christ’s Presence. The Tabernacles are covered with
ornate veils in the colours of the season, like the altar frontals. The Tabernacle on the High Altar is gilded
and decorated with semi-precious stones. |
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This image of Mary with her
Divine Son reminds us of her appearance to the Lady of the Manor in a remote
Norfolk village in the 11th century. The replica of the Holy House
at Nazareth at Walsingham became one of the most esteemed and visited shrines
of medieval Europe. Destroyed at the Reformation it
was restored in the early part of the 20th century by Father
Alfred Hope Patten, SSC, Vicar of Walsingham, who as a boy learned much about
Anglo-Catholicism from his worship at Brighton churches of this tradition. There is a library at the shrine
in remembrance of Father John Milburn, vicar of S Paul’s 1964-1982. The image of Our Lady of
Walsingham is a modern version, 1988, of the reconstruction commissioned by
Fr. Hope Patten. |
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Hanging lamps and votum [in
coloured glass] lights give honour and dignity, whether to the Blessed
Sacrament [white], Our Lady [blue] or to martyrs and other saints [red]. Votive candles, lit at a shrine, symbolise the prayer we offer, and are a powerful reminder of Christ’s light in what is sometimes the darkness of this world, and they give encouragement that others have prayed here, too. At the shrine of a saint it is customary to ask the saint - one of our friends in heaven - to pray for the person or cause for whom or which we have lit the candle, and for ourselves. |
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As they come into the church, many Christians like to dip their fingers into the holy water and make a sign of the cross over their bodies to remind them of their baptism, the beginning of their Christian journey. Similarly, when leaving church, the sign of the cross can be made with the holy water as we ask God to bless us and keep us. |
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Reflecting upon the Gospel, a
Christian is called upon to examine his or her conscience, to repent ['turn
around'] of sin and receive God’s free gift of forgiveness and a fresh start. The Sacrament of Reconciliation [Confession] is a means of so doing in the presence of a priest who has been given authority at his ordination to forgive sins in God’s name. |
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