The Oratory in England was founded by John Henry Cardinal Newman in 1848 in Birmingham. The London house started soon after, and quickly gained independence.
For almost 150 years, these were the only two Oratories in England. However, Newman had always wanted to establish a house in Oxford, and had indeed considered no fewer than three sites in the city for the purpose; at the time, though, his ideas came to nothing.
In 1990, the Archbishop of Birmingham, Maurice Couve de Murville, asked the Birmingham Oratory if it could spare some of its members to take over the running of the Church of St Aloysius in Oxford. Two priests arrived in September 1990, soon to be joined by a student for the priesthood.
Numbers increased sufficiently that in 1993, the Oxford Oratory was established as an independent Congregation in its own right.
Our priests are involved in a variety of works, including the running of the parish, and school, hospital, and prison chaplaincy.
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