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The foundation stone of the new Church of Corpus Christi, Boscombe, was laid on Thursday, 22nd August, 1895, by Bishop Vertue of Portsmouth. The new Church, to be erected at the rear of the Convent of the Cross in Parkwood Road, together with the site will cost about £5,000 which is contributed by private benefactors. The church Is intended to seat 400 worshippers and has been designed by Mr. J. W. Lunn, of Great Malvern, the contractors being Messrs. Jenkins and Sons of Bournemouth.
The Church will be served by the
clergy attached to the Sacred Heart Church at Bournemouth, and will take the
place of the iron structure erected close by the Convent some 8 years earlier,
and which has been found far too small.
On the day before the ceremony a large wooden cross was erected on the spot which will hereafter form the altar, and every effort has been made by the members of the congregation both at Boscombe and Bournemouth to surround the service with the impressive eclat befitting so important an occasion. At the opposite end of the site the Union Jack was conspicuously displayed.
The space immediately in front of the wooden cross was carpeted and provide with faldstools and seats for the clergy and those engaged in the functions of the day. The background of the cross was formed by a beautifully wrought banner indicative of Christ as the head of the Church on earth, and there were festoons of flowers and drapery over the whole area.
There was a numerous gathering of spectators, including all the leading members of the Catholic community in the district, the girls of the convent school all clad in white, with white veils, and boys carrying banners bearing suitable inscriptions. At 3.30 a procession formed at the Convent, where the clergy, choir and boys and others taking part robed, and then marched headed by a priest bearing a large brass crucifix to the site of the new Church.
In addition to the Bishop there were present Very Rev. Fr. T. Scoles SJ, the Provincial of the Jesuits, Fr. J. Bampton SJ, Rector of the Farm Street Church, Dean O'Connell of Lymington, Fr. A. Morford of Poole, Fr. C. Arthur of Christchurch, Fr. Dowsett of Poole, Fr. C. Paul of Bournemouth, Fr. de Zulueta SJ director of the Choir, Fr. J. Foxwell SJ and Fr. de Lapasture was the Master of Ceremonies.
Arrived at the Cross, the Bishop who wore his mitre and carried his pastoral staff, and who was attired in magnificent vestments comprising principally white watered satin heavily worked in gold, sprinkled the sacred emblem with holy water, which he had previously blessed.
Meanwhile, the Antiphon commencing Signum Salutis "Erect 0 Lord Jesus Christ the sign of salvation. in this place, and suffer not the destroying angel to enter in " was sure to a beautiful setting by Fr. Zulueta. Then came psalm lxxxiii Quam dilecta tabernacula "How Lovely are thy dwellings, 0 Lord of Hosts".
The Bishop then, facing the Cross, offered a prayer in Latin, invoking the Divine blessing on the Church, through the intercession of Mary and all the Saints. He then blessed the foundation stone, which was a plain block of about three cwts., bearing no inscription, but engraved on each face with the sign of the cross. After other prayers, the Bishop sprinkled the stone with holy water. He then proceeded to the faldstool at which he knelt, and the long and solemn litany of the saints was said.
The Bishop now laid aside his mitre, and facing the stone repeated the familiar collect "Actiones Nostros quaesumus" "Prevent 0 Lord". Mortar was now brought and the Bishop assisted by the Architect, amid preparations for the formal laying of the stone, intoning the antiphon "Mane surgens Jacob erigebat" "Jacob arising in the morning, set up the stone for a title", the choir taking up the psalm commencing "Unless the Lord keep the city".
The stone having been properly adjusted, the Bishop sprinkled it again with holy water, after which the Miserere me Deus was sung and other prayers recited; then the various parts of the foundations were sprinkled amidst the chanting of psalms and the intonations of antiphons, followed by the impressive singing of the Veni Creator Spiritus.
At the conclusion of the ceremony the Bishop resumed his mitre, and exhorted the people to contribute towards the building of the new Church and its requirements. He said he sincerely hoped that the important work in which they were engaged that day would prosper.
The place had been dedicated to Almighty God, and so long as the dedication was observed, so long would it prosper. He had heard people say "How can man make a place holy?", and to such he replied that man did not make the place holy, but simply carried out the commandments of God, who had in the case of the building of Solomon's Temple given the most perfect instructions as to the materials to be used, the measurements and so forth.
He begged all good Catholics to help forward the work by every means in their power, and to remember that in that church their children would receive the holy sacraments of baptism, confirmation and the highest sacrament of all, the Holy Eucharist.
Mr. E. W. Jenkins presented the Bishop with a silver trowel, with an ivory handle, and in a morocco leather case. The trowel was inscribed "Corpus Christi Boscombe Presented to the Rt. Rev. John Vertus, D.D. Bishop of Portsmouth by Messrs. Jenkins and Sons 22nd August 1895".
The clergy then left, the choir singing as a recessional "Faith of Our Fathers" to a setting by Fr. Zulueta.
The new Church will be a plain but very substantial brick building in the early English style of architecture with Gothic arches and internal Bath stone dressings. The Church will comprise a nave 68 ft by 22 ft, with a height of 56 ft to the apex of the roof.
There will be side aisles of 7 ft, a sanctuary - 31 ft by 22 ft, a nuns' transept of 22 ft on the north side of the sanctuary - and on the south side a Lady Chapel 22 ft by 8 ft, sacristy 18 ft by 17 ft and a boys' sacristy 16 ft by 7 ft.
At the west end there will be two porches and a baptistery. There will be a chandel arch and stone arcading beneath the clerestory windows. The total length of the building will be 125 feet. There will be an ordinary pitch pine roof covered with Broseley tiles and showing wrought timbers.
The church will be paved through out with wood blocks. It is altogether a plain substantial building quite in accordance with the quiet character of the neighbourhood. Lighting in the nave will be by six incandescent burners.
The Foreman of the Works is Mr. E. T. Price
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