# Church of the Sacred Heart and St Catherine of Alexandria

The Church of the Sacred Heart and St Catherine of Alexandria is a Catholic church situated in Droitwich Spa, Worcestershire, England, noted for its remarkable and extensive mosaics. The church is heavily influenced by the churches in Ravenna, just south of Venice, Italy.
Walter Loveridge Hodgkinson of Rashwood Court, Droitwich, was the main benefactor of the church. He built the church in memory of his wife Catherine who died in 1906. The architect was Frank Barry Peacock, a partner in the Birmingham Architectural practice of Peacock and Bewlay. The foundation stone was laid on 25th November 1919, the feast of St. Catherine of Alexandria and the birth date of Catherine Hodgkinson. The first Mass was celebrated on 24th November 1921, the anniversary of the death of Catherine Hodgkinson.
The building was listed at Grade II* on 11 December 2013.

## The Mosaics

The mosaics at the Sacred Heart Church were designed by renowned artist Gabriel Pippet (1880–1962) from Solihull and carried out by a highly skilled mosaicist Maurice Josey, from London, assisted by Fred Oates, a teenager. They were started in 1921 and took 12 years to complete, although some later work was added. Eight and a half tons of quarter-inch glass mosaic tiles, called “tesserae” – coloured pieces of Venetian glass, were imported from Venice for the purpose. The influence of the mosaics of Ravenna is very apparent. Indeed, Pippet travelled to Ravenna and Rome to study the mosaics before completing the designs. Hodgkinson, Peacock and Josey also visited Ravenna. Along one side of the nave, the story of St. Richard of Droitwich (also known as St. Richard of Chichester), is told and along the other side is the story of the life of the Virgin Mary. Perhaps the most impressive art is a depiction of the 'Nine Choirs of Angels' on the East wall above the choir gallery. Today the church has a very effective lighting system to illuminate the mosaic scenes and amplify their beauty.
Pippet created and painted the scenes on life size 'cartoons' which were then transferred to the walls using some form of tracing. These are regarded as being of national importance. Maurice Josey used the direct method of creating the mosaic scenes by placing individual glass tesserae directly into the mortar.
Gabriel Pippet was also an accomplished wood and stone carver. Twelve granite pillars in the nave include his intricate carvings on their double capitals. His statues and other stone carvings can be admired, along with the Stations of the Cross, carved from Oak. He died in 1962 and is buried in the graveyard beside the church.
Hubert Galton of Hadzor Hall paid for the mosaics in the Lady Chapel in memory to his two sons, Theodore and Francis who had both died during the first world war and his daughter Lucy. Another side chapel depicts the life of St. Catherine of Alexandria. There are two smaller side chapels, one dedicated to St. Richard de Wyche (Droitwich) and the other to St. Michael Garicoits, the founder of the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Betharram.
In March 1930 the Daily Mirror published a piece headlined ‘Nine Years Work On Mosaics’ and this was followed a few days later by the Berrow’s Worcester Journal stating that this church was the only one in the world that would be completely covered by glass mosaics and marble. In 1940, The Daily Sketch published an article headed ‘20-Year Task Of Two Men And Boy Is Ended’.
The church is visited by people from around the world and regarded as an outstanding example of mosaic art, influenced by the early Roman Byzantine period.