THE STORY BEFORE 1931
Until the arrival of the Marist Fathers, Paignton Catholics, joined by a few from Brixham, would travel to Mass at Torre Abbey courtesy of William Henry Rossiter and his hay wagon.
The Monastery Chapel became the place of worship for the small group of Catholics in Paignton. The impressive building of Gothic style had a single nave and a wagon shaped vaulted roof. The overall size was 78ft. in length, 31ft. broad with a height of 58ft. from ground to apex.
The journey for local Catholics to the Marist community’s chapel for Mass meant climbing a very steep hill and a new place of worship was sought to establish a proper parish. In 1898 the Baptist Church at St. Mary’s Hill was bought and, after redecoration, was opened with the title of ‘Sacred Heart’ on May 23rd 1898.
It met the needs of the local Catholics but the growth of Paignton as a venue for holidaymakers in the 1920s put great pressure on the building during the Summer. A new church had to be built. Father Fox purchased a piece of land near Colley End in Spratt Lane (now Cecil Road) in 1924, incurring debt to achieve the £24,000 price. Members of the congregation were asked to promise a weekly sum and responded outstandingly. The work began with Bishop Barrett laying the foundation stone in October 1930.
HAPPENINGS IN PAIGNTON AND BEYOND JULY 1931
In 1931, when Sacred Heart Church was blessed and opened by the 5th Bishop of Plymouth, the Very Rev. John Barrett, it was the time of the Great Depression with commodity prices sinking, and world trade stopping because of the imposition of high tariffs and the value of currencies undermined as gold standards were abandoned. For millions in all continents, 1931 was a year of hunger, and even in Torbay soup kitchens were operating. Cuts in the pay of civil servants and the armed services lead to riots and mutiny. Ramsey MacDonald’s Labour Government fell.AN AMBITION REALISED
One of the most important religious ceremonies in Paignton for many years took place on Sunday 26th July, when the new Roman Catholic church in Cecil Road was blessed by the Lord Bishop of Plymouth, Dr. J. Barrett, who also conducted the ceremony of blessing the foundation stone last October.
The church is Romanesque in character, treated on modern lines, whilst retaining all the distinctive characteristics of a Roman Catholic Church. It is built entirely of brick. Its nave is 69ft. long by 28ft. wide, and seating is provided for 260 people. There are two confessionals, and a baptistery occupies the space under the tower. Over the entrance porch is a tiered gallery, which, besides providing accommodation for the choir, will seat about 70 people. The gallery is approached by a staircase from the porch. In the tower, which is about 90ft. high, is bell chamber, and in the gallery is an organ loft and choir. Internally, the walls of the church are finished in cream-coloured plaster.
The sanctuary is spacious and has an octagonal vaulted apse. The sacristies are placed on the Gospel side of the sanctuary, with direct access thereto as well as to the body of the church. A low pressure hot water system is installed, and the building is lighted by electricity.
The Blessed Sacrament was carried in procession from the old church higher up Cecil Road. The ceremony of blessing the church took the form of sprinkling the walls, both outside and inside.
Unfortunately, the weather for the blessing was decidedly inclement, and the large number of people who gathered for the ceremony, numbering at least five hundred, were allowed to take shelter in the church before the Bishop’s blessing. There was far from sufficient seating for all those who wished to be present on this momentous occasion, and both sides of the aisles, and the entrance to the church were crowded. The ceremonials continued with Mass.
High Mass was sung in the presence of Lord Bishop of Plymouth, the Very Reverend Father Sullivan SM and Father W. Fox waiting upon his Lordship at the throne. Mass was sung by the Parish Priest, the Very Reverend Father W. Conran SM, assisted by Father B. Rossiter as Deacon and Father Dobell CRL as sub-Deacon.
The clergy present in the church were: - Father Meagher SM, Father McAuley SM, The SM Fathers Patten, Fanning, Girard, Sweeney, Gattfried, Leonard, O’Shaughnessy, Dodard and Haye. Dr. Ford acted as Master of Ceremonies.
The sermon was preached by the Rev. Dr. O’Driscol SM, professor at the Marist Seminary, Dublin, who took his text, “This day I must abide in thy house”. He focussed on Zacchaeus, whose small stature he equated with the numerical smallness of the Catholic population of our country. People wanted, needed and craved for religion, but insistence on the rights of the individual had been applied also in relation to God. People remained in the crowd and did as the crowd did. Because such and such a person did not go to church, someone else did not see why he should practice religion. It was good to respect the ideals and sentiments of others, but not to the extent of resigning the rights to adore and honour God from whom they had received everything they possessed. The Catholic Church has received set-backs as it experiences the wear and tear of a living body but we had only to wait, as Jesus Christ would see that there was sufficient repair to make up for the wear and tear.
He continued his theme saying that the only right man had was to go on his knees and adore God. It was a privilege to do anything for God, whether building churches or praying. Like Zacchaeus waiting in the tree for Jesus to pass by, so Catholics of Paignton had waited to achieve their goal to build a bigger and better dwelling for Jesus Christ. The new church should be a centre of godly influence. It was not by heated controversy, by pointed attacks or by aggressiveness, that godliness is spread in the world, but by the way people conduct their lives. If others saw they were good and useful citizens, doing their bit to bring back godliness and Christianity among their friends and acquaintances, taking their part in everyday life, spreading love and charity while doing their work in the world, then people would say: “There is something here; that religion is worth examining.”
At the “Ite Missa Est”’ the Bishop gave the Pontifical Blessing and the ceremony concluded with the singing of the Te Deum.
The Celebrant at evening Benediction was Father Bernard Rossiter, of St. George’s College, Weybridge, eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. H.B. Rossiter of Paignton, the sermon being delivered by Father W. Knox who, preaching on the unity of the church, remarked in passing that he had known Paignton many years ago, and congratulated the Catholics of Paignton today on the beautiful Church they had built. He commented that his Lordship the Bishop had been very pleased at the interior and exterior beauty of the building, and that he had expressed the hope that it would not be very long before he would be able to consecrate the Church.
DEDICATION TO SACRED HEART AND ST. TERESA
Devotion to the Sacred Heart became widely practised from the 17th century but was not sanctioned for general use by the Church until 1794, when Pope Pius VI issued a decree approving the devotion to The Sacred Heart and granting indulgences to those who practice it.
A 17th century French nun, Sister Margaret Mary Alacoque, professed that Jesus appeared to her in visions and in one of those showed her His heart, pierced with a wound, circled with a crown of thorns, surrounded by flames and surmounted by a cross – as represented in pictures and sculptures to this day.
Adoration of Christ’s heart was to reflect His infinite charity, spiritual life and all-embracing love. The month of June is especially devoted to the Sacred Heart with the Friday after Corpus Christi fixed as the feast day.
The addition of St. Teresa reflected her recent canonisation by Pope Pius XI in 1925. She had an 11 yearlong simple religious life of prayer in her convent I Lisieux before dying at the early age of 24. She loved flowers and saw herself as ‘the little flower of Jesus” and gave glory to God by just being herself among the flowers.
Father Thomas Conran, parish priest at the time, was having difficulty raising money to repay the bank loan. It was the time of great financial depression and unemployment with little spare money. He came up with a scheme asking for help to build the first shrine to ‘The Little flower’ in the West Country and through newspaper advertisements, appealed nationwide for donations. Amazingly, money poured in. Every single donation was personally acknowledged by Father Conran.
STATIONS OF THE CROSS
The longest serving priest (before Canon Seamus Flynn – 17 years) was the Marist , Father Patrick Meagher, who arrived in 1929 and remained until 1942, before dying a year later in Ireland. When word of his death got around, there was a constant stream of people offering contributions to a memorial.
The Stations of the Cross are a series of pictures or tableaux representing certain scenes in the Passion of Christ arranged at intervals around the walls of the church. They help the faithful make, in spirit, a pilgrimage to the chief scenes of Christ’s suffering and death. It is one of the most celebrated Catholic devotions, especially during Lent. It involves passing from Station to Station, with certain prayers at each and devout meditation on the various tableaux in turn. A stanza of the hymn ‘Stabat Mater’ is usually sung between each of the 14 Stations.
Those at Sacred Heart Church are Austrian and began their journey from the mountains of the Tyrol on mule-back. Classed as a work of art, there was no tax on entry into England. Hardly a day passed during his ministry without Father Meagher ‘making the Stations’, so the purchase of the lovely hand-carved Stations of the Cross we have today was most apt as a memorial to him.
PRIESTS WHO HAVE SERVED THE PARISH
Since the appointment of Father grimes in 1881, there have been 25 parish priests and 29 assistant priests. Until 1984, the clergy were members of the Order of the Society of Mary, the Marist Fathers. Father Watters spent 8 years in charge from 1906, but Father Gunning was a long serving parish priest from 1932 – 1944 and, during his stewardship, Sacred Heart School and the Presbytery were built. During Father Crawley’s period as parish priest, the debt on the land, church and school and presbytery were paid off just before the church was consecrated in 1959 by Bishop Restieaux. Father Sacco, the third longest serving and the last of the Marist priests, oversaw their final withdrawal from the parish when he left in 1984.
Of the assistant Marist Priests, only Father Sacco went on to be parish priest of Sacred Heart and St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus. The outstanding contributor to the building up of the parish was Father Meagher who spent 33 years of ministry in Paignton and is referred to elsewhere in connection with the Stations of the Cross.
When responsibility for Sacred Heart Parish was assumed by the Diocese of Plymouth in 1984, Monsignor George Hay and Father Buckley ensured a smooth transfer. In 1991 Father Tony Bennett, whose family were members of the Sacred Heart Community, took over but his highly successful ministry was cut short by a brain tumour which led to his premature death in 1995.
Since then, Canon Seamus Flynn was parish priest from 1995 – 2013 when he retired due to ill health. He died in 2017. He was followed by Father Guy de Gaynesford (2013 – 2015) who moved on to Buckfast Abbey as Rector of the School of the Annunciation.
Father Mark O’Keeffe (2015 – 2018) oversaw the current reordering of the sanctuary and redecoration of the church, and moved to Plymouth in July 2018 as Dean of the Cathedral. Our parish greeted Father Ralph Candy in September 2018.
EDUCATION IN THE PARISH
The mission of the Marist Sisters had a strong educational focus. Their early efforts in Paignton attracted few pupils but, in 1931, Mother Livinus Hunt was appointed superior and under her guidance the Marist Convent School developed into one of the very best in the area.
There had been a parish school at the junction of Well Street and Oldway Road since 1887 but by the 1930s it had become overcrowded and blacklisted by Devon County Council. In 1935, a modern school with 4 classrooms was opened and 73 children enrolled.
The Marist Sisters continued to teach at both schools and, in the 1960s, additional accommodation was added to the Convent School allowing the roll to rise to 287. However, by 1970, the numbers had fallen to 202, of whom only 80 were Catholics and a mere 27 were borders. The opening of Cuthbert Mayne School in Torquay reduced the need for a Catholic independent school in Paignton. In 1982, the Marist Sisters decided to close the Convent School though they continued to teach at Sacred Heart Primary School until 1990.
Cuthbert Mayne School opened in 1962 as a secondary modern school for the older children from the all-age Catholic Schools across South Devon, including Paignton. It successfully filled the void for church based schooling left by the closure of the Marist Convent. In 1974 it became a comprehensive school educating children of all abilities. To ensure the school’s size was large enough to offer a full range of curriculum opportunities, it made the pioneering decision to enter into partnership with the Church of England trustees to establish the first joint school in the country. Since 1996 the construction of additional acco0modation has enabled students to continue their education up to the age of 18.
THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE MARISTS TO THE PARISH
Until their departure in 1984, the Society of Mary – the Marists- had responsibility for Sacred Heart Parish. They had established a monastery in 1881 high on a hill just outside the town in what is now Monastery Road. The Marist community needed a chapel for their worship and to welcome the Laity to use it. The chapel was duly built and opened in 1883.
The cast iron statue of Our Lady, rising some 18 feet above the eastern gable, remains a landmark to this day and is affectionately referred to as ‘The White Lady’.
The use of the monastery chapel was not easy due to the steep climb and in 1898 Father Mulkern bought the Baptist Chapel at the foot of St. Mary’s Hill. After it was adapted, decorated and refurnished it opened under the patronage of the Sacred Heart. This building remained adequate until the 1920s but Paignton’s population growth and the ever increasing number of holiday makers led Father Fox to propose the building of a new church.
Although the number of novices in training at the Monastery fluctuated during this period, the commitment of the Marist priests to the parish was very strong. They had been joined in 1901 by a small group of Marist Sisters who were to develop a convent and school in Lower Polsham Road and later moved to Tower House where they established a larger school which was to serve Paignton until the 1980s.
Following the building of the current church and then the Presbytery in 1938, the parish clergy became a community separate from the Monastery and more available to Paignton Catholics. The Marists continued to invest in the parish. Land was purchased in Hodson Close to build the church of St. Peter Chanel in 1962. In 1966 more land was acquired at Goodrington but no church was ever built. In 1972, a Parish Hall was erected under the direction of Father Battle.
In 1970, with the fall in the number of vocations, it was decided that the Monastery should close and the students moved to London. The Monastery was sold to become flats and a social club. Numbers at the Convent School were in decline, leading to its eventual closure in 1982. Sisters continued to work at Sacred Heart Primary School until 1990.
Father Sacco was given the unenviable task of announcing the final withdrawal of the Marist priests at Masses on 15th July 1984, ending over a century of service to the Catholics of Paignton.