Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1909-08-21
lspeclal CORRESPONDENCE

! - N
i and history are wrapped UP in
an old building which is Just
now falling before the hands of the
house breakers-the church of st. An-
selm and ST., Cecilia, better known as!
the old Sandman chapel, which infsits5
time was virtually the cathedral of
Roman Catholicism in England. AT
one time 1t was the only place in
London in which Roman Catholics
could worship in safety. and long after
the penal days 1t was one3tof the only
two catholic churches in the English
metropolis.
The old church Is d victim OF the
march Of progress 1t stands at the
corner of Kingsway and Sardinia
street, Il district formerly .afmaze of.
marrow. streets and alleys, but which
lis noWtithe scene of one of the greatest
improvements ever undertaken by the
London county council. Dozens of tor
8tuous narrow little streets have been
swept away. and the magnificent
jthoroughfares of Kingsway and Aid
wych have, taken their;jplace. The
5old church stands on the lineEof q new
street and 1t must go. The county
council has given in exchange a8tineg
site a. couple of hundreds yards up
{ Kingsways and a beautiful church in
is Just being completed, and was
formally opened randEconsecrateti3a few
days ago by the archbishop of West
minister ttst lt 15lf
/ 1.-THE Sandman chapel owes its name.
land its Very eXistenceEto the fact that
/, it was the private chapel of the Sar-
Edinian embassy. in tho days before the
union Of Italy brought abouttthei dis
appearance .of that ancient Kingdom.
1t stands in the rearaof' the embassy
building which faces on { Lneoln's INN
Fields. and still bears the arms of the
kim. of Sardinia carved over the door
Part of the embassy building is still
occupied as II. rectory.rDut that, too,t is
coming down. and the priests have
moved into the new. rcctGry, erected
beside the new cllurcn
UNDER ROYAL, PROTECTION.
tArchitecturallys the old church has
nothing to recommend it.fIt is frank
ly5 hileot,s--a mere barn composed Of
four walls and alroof. There is some
good stained ~lass in the windows and
a painting over the altar which has
n history. Some Of the church orng-
lments are of artistic value, but that is
all 1t must be remembered, however,
that when it was erected, it was not
visible from the street. and 1t was
intended only for the private deYo-
lions of the ambassador and his house
hold. In those days 1t was penal Of
Tense for an English subject TO hear
mass but international usage sane
toned freedom of religion for the a,n-
bassadors Of Roman Catholic powers.
and the Sandman chapel had the pro-
lection OF the king of Sardinia and in
directly OF tho English government
which was prosecuting Catholics
wherever ii found them,
Gradually English Catholics discov-
cred that 1t was safe to worship at the
Sandman chapel. and as time Went on
a little. congregation formed, which
has been maintained without break
ever since. Even the protection of the
government did not always safeguard
it. however, for the chapel was burnt
twice by mobs7-once in 1885, at the
time of the landing of William OF Or
ange when anti-Catholic feeling was
very bitter. and again in 1850. during
the Gordon riots, In iGSS, the rectery
was also burnt and the missals. brev-
iiaries. crucifixes, and other church
properties We're carried into Lincolns
Inn Fields where they formed the ma
terial for bonfire. Copies of
medal struck a this time showing the
mob dancing round the bonfire are to
be seen in the British museum.