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As the Parish originally owed its formation to the Religious of the Cross, its history commences with their arrival in the district.
On September 5th, 1870, four Sisters of the Congregation of the Cross at St. Quentin came to England. They received hospitality at the Convent of Mercy, Blandford Square in London where they were joined in October by 4 of their nuns. On 8th November the Rev. Mother General came over with another nun and was kindly received by Archbishop Manning.
The Fathers of the Society of Jesus encouraged them to make a foundation at Bournemouth where Father Mann, S.J. and Lady Georgina Fullerton (pictured here) were endeavouring to find a suitable house for them. The Bishop of the Diocese also expressed pleasure that Bournemouth had been chosen for the foundation.
On 15th April, 1871, therefore, the Sisters left Blandford Square to reside in Bournemouth. Father Mann took an early opportunity of visiting them, and Lady Fullerton recommended them to the care of Mrs. Every who showed them the greatest kindness.
On l6th April, Father Mann drew the attention of Catholic ladies to the arrival of the Community and in a short time weekly meetings of the ladies took place at the Convent, where they worked for the good of the poor. Much interest was shown in the Nuns by the family of the Count de la Torre Diaz, whose two grandchildren, Alphonso and Raphael Merry del Val, were sent to the Convent for French lessons.
On 28th October, 1871, the Sisters removed from The Lodge to "Mineham" the present Convent of St. Joseph, Branksome Wood Road and on 21st November, Father Dignam blessed the house. St. Josephs was later a convalescent home run by the Sisters of Mercy.
Soon after this the first elementary school was opened. This was situated at the corner of Lansdowne and Madeira Roads, but was subsequently removed to more convenient premises in Avenue Road, later occupied by Messrs. Lacey and Sons, Solicitors.
Mother Hustler and Mother Biggin used to teach in the School. In 1880 Lady Fullerton gave the premises in Yelverton Road for the purposes of an elementary school.
During the year 1885 the first children from Boscombe attended this school viz. Herbert and Walter Bramble, Jesse and Herbert Burt and Edward J. Charles. On Sundays a Catechism class was held at Miss Paley's house named "Apthorp" in Owls Road. This class presently was removed to larger premises owned by Mr. Burt and situated in Shelley Road, where were Mr.Burt and family with dwelling house attached which was called Tichborne Cottage.
This class owed its foundation and encouragement to the Rev. Charles de Lapasture, S.J. (pictured below).
He also aided the formation of a club at the same house for young men and boys. It was in a sitting-room of this cottage that when possible he celebrated Mass for a few resident Catholics. Mr. Burt also drove the few Catholics to Bournemouth on Sundays to hear Mass at the Church of the Sacred Heart.
It was in 1886 that the Religious of the Cross decided to make a foundation at Boscombe. Towards the end of the year, therefore, they took up residence in a temporary abode at the junction of Parkwood and Darracott Roads and in their small chapel the local Catholics were able to hear Mass. By this date the huge diocese of Southwark had been divided a new diocese of Portsmouth having been formed in 1882. This new diocese included Hampshire.
In 1887 the Sisters purchased four and a half acres of land on which Mgr. Vertue, Bishop of Portsmouth, erected a small Public Chapel, an iron building bought from Lord Petre. This iron chapel was formally opened on New Year's Day 1888 and was served from Bournemouth by Father de Lapasture.
It became a familiar sight to see him riding his tricycle through the streets of Boscombe, or pushing it along with a crowd of children clinging to him. On cold winter mornings it was possible to see him riding from Bournemouth in Mr. Gubbin's brougham and reading his Office by the light of a candle.
On 6th September 1888 the foundation stone of the present Convent was laid. When the Sisters came to Boscombe an elementary school was started in Oak Cottage, but on 1st December 1888 it was temporary closed and was re-opened at "Trevone" in March 1889.
The need for a permanent school had already become apparent, for on 7th April 1888 collecting cards had been issued for this purpose. On 29th May 1889 Mrs. James bought the ground adjoining the Convent and presented it to the Sisters, partly to avoid the Nuns having undesirable neighbours, and partly to provide a site for a School.
Shortly afterwards work was commenced, the Foundation Stone being laid on 9th August, 1888.
Concurrently with the need for a permanent school arose the necessity for an enlarged Church. The iron chapel, in spite of extensions, became altogether too small for the needs of the locality. In this moment of need, there came forward Boscombe's great benefactress, the Baroness Pauline von Hugel, sister of Baron von Hugel.
The Baroness was a distinguished lady whose father was an Austrian Diplomat and while her mother, the daughter of General Farquaharson, was also closely related to General Sir James Outran.
The Baroness resolved with the help of Miss Redmayne and other personal friends, to build a church that would meet the needs of both parishioners and the Sisters, and to this end bought a property known as "Holyrood" and two acres of land stretching from Christchurch Road to the Convent garden.
The Church of Corpus Christi was commenced in 1895 and was opened on 8th September 1896 by Bishop Vertue. The sermon in the morning was preached by Dr. Hedley, Bishop of Newport and in the evening by the Rev. J. Bampton, S.J.
The Baroness gave the Church to the Fathers of the Society of Jesus and in order to make provision for the maintenance of the Church also gave the Fathers the freehold of "Loreto" and the long lease of "Collingwood" and "Collingbourne". The sole condition of this gift was that nothing should be done to diminish the beauty of the Church.
The Baroness died on 29th March 1901 at the age of 41. She is buried in the small parish cemetery at Stratton on the Fosse, adjoining Downside Abbey.
From 1896 to Easter 1897 the Church was still served from Bournemouth but at the latter date two Priests were appointed to the Parish, and took up their residence in the Presbytery.
Corpus Christi became a separate Parish and Father de Lapasture was the first Parish Priest.
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