About Saint Philip Neri Church
Religion, Churches, Interesting Places, Other Churches
St Philip Neri Church Liverpool is home to the Roman Catholic chaplaincy to the Universities in Liverpool. It features a Byzantine inspired design by PS Gilby and was built between 1914 and 1920. There are exterior friezes depicting the Last Supper and of Our Lady and the Child Jesus inscribed with the two titles given to Our Lady at the Council of Ephesus in 431 AD, i.e. 'Deipara' (Latin: Mother of God) and 'Theotokos' (Greek : Bearing God) over the door onto Catherine Street. There is also a large stone inscribed in Latin set in the wall bearing the name of Thomas (Whiteside), Archbishop of Liverpool 8 Oct 1916 which dates from the time the church was constructed. The parish grew from the school named 'The Institute' which opened in 1853 in nearby Hope Street. It was visited by the founder of the English Oratorians (Cardinal) John Henry Newman of The Oratory of St Philip Neri in Edgbaston, Birmingham. The parish and later the church were named after Saint Philip Neri in honour of Newman since Philip Neri had founded the original Oratory church in Rome. Parish registers of the church dating as far back as 1864 can be inspected at the Liverpool Record Office.
