Our Lady and St. Catherine of Siena

179 Bow Rd. E3, London, England

Our Lady and St. Catherine of Siena 
Catholic Church
London, England

"The Church of Our Lady and St Catherine of Siena is a Roman Catholic church dedicated to the Virgin Mary and Catherine of Siena at 179 Bow Road, E3 in Bow, east London. Designed by Gilbert Blount, it opened in 1870. Formerly the parish was run by a community of Dominican nuns, but it is now run by the Archdiocese of Westminster. "(Link 1.)

Our Lady and St. Catherine of Siena

A Gothic Revival  Church built for the Dominican Sisters by Gilbert Blount. The church suffered war damage and the nave was reconstructed in facsimile. Several  original early features survived: the high altar,  reredos designed by Blount, and the East window designed by Hardman. (Link 2.)

In 1866 the sisters were sent to Bow to teach and they built the church.  The foundation stone was laid in 1869 and the church opened in 1870.  In 1882 south transept was added as well as the Sacred Heart Chapel at the north end of the sanctuary. (Link 2.)

The nuns departed in 1923.  In 1943 the nave was damaged by a bomb and a facsimile built. (Link 2.)

Rose Window

"Rhe gabled west front is framed by angle buttresses with a shorter stepped buttress in the centre. The narthex is lit by a row of six lancet windows with hood moulds. Above is a large wheel window with female heads in small roundels on either side, flanked by canopied niches with statues of saints. (On Blount’s drawings and in older postcards in the parish archive the niches are empty. The statues probably date from the post-war restoration.) In the apex of the gable, below the gable cross, is a vesica-shaped relief of Our Lady. The west front of the northwest porch has a niche with a statue of Our Lady above the main door.

"The west window has a stained glass panel in the central multifoil depicting the Sacred Heart (c.1950s)" Small rose windows are set in some of the doors. (Link 2.)

:

Saint Catherine of Siena
St. Catherine of Siena, by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
Virgin; Doctor of Church
Born	March 25, 1347 Siena, Republic of Siena
Died	April 29, 1380 (aged 33) Rome, Papal States
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church; Anglican Communion; Lutheranism
Canonized	29 June 1461 by Pope Pius II
Major shrine	Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome and Shrine of Saint Catherine (it), Siena
Feast	April 29; April 30 (Roman Calendar, 1628–1969)
Attributes	Dominican tertiaries' habit, lily, book, crucifix, heart, crown of thorns, stigmata, ring, dove, rose, skull, miniature church, miniature ship bearing Papal coat of arms
Patronage	against fire; bodily ills; diocese of Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA; Europe; illness; Italy; miscarriages; people ridiculed for their piety; sexual temptation; sick people; sickness; nurses

"Saint Catherine of Siena TOSD (March 25, 1347 – April 29, 1380) was a saint. She was born in Sienna and died in Rome. She promoted peace in Italy and is one of the two patron saints of Italy; the other being Saint Francis of Assisi.

"She was born Katerina de Benincasa in western Italy, the 25th of 25 children. She was born at the time of the Black Death, or Bubonic Plague. Although it probably killed many she knew, she herself did not contract the disease and survived the epidemic. She had a twin sister, who died several months later. Her family was part of the lower classes and she did not become literate until 1378.

"At the age of six, Catherine had a vision of Jesus Christ. She continued to receive many visions throughout her life. At age 12, Catherine cut off her hair and was obligated to serve her family, living in small quarters in the basement. At the age of 16, she entered the Third Order of Saint Dominic and later became a Dominican nun.

"She wrote a book called Dialogue, which taught that if you love your neighbors it is loving God. She also devoted her life to improving the Catholic church, helping the ill, poor, and spiritually underprivileged. Catherine persuaded the pope to return from Avignon, France and back into Rome. She also tried to start a new Crusade to the holy land, Jerusalem. She died of “holy anorexia”, as she ate very little in the name of God. She became a saint in 1461, and was later made a Doctor of the Church in 1970 by Pope Paul VI and a patron of Europe in 1999." (Link 3.)

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Photos: Taken by Richard Wilson   with an I phone in March 2018
                while visiting London.
Link1:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Our_Lady_and_St_Catherine_of_Siena,_Bow
Link 2: http://taking-stock.org.uk/Home/Dioceses/Archdiocese-of-Westminster/Bow-Our-Lady-and-St-Catherine-of-Siena
Link 3  : https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_of_Siena