The central focus of the whole church is the sanctuary, where Mass is celebrated on the high altar every day, and where the Blessed Sacrament resides in the tabernacle. Christ is here in the sanctuary, and that makes this place heaven on earth. This is why the walls are covered in images of those who are also in heaven: the saints and angels.

The wall behind the tabernacle, called the reredos, is one of the most striking features of the building. Installed in 1878, it contains the statues of 52 saints with the heads of 20 saints filling the roundels above, with angels holding a scrolling banner that reads: “Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus, Dominus Deus sabaoth” (Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of Hosts). The reredos depicts the heavenly court looking down on the worship taking place in the sanctuary, worship they share in in heaven. Whilst many college chapels today have niches filled with saints, this is the earliest surviving example in Oxford, the others having been destroyed at the Protestant Reformation and only restored in the early twentieth century.

The places of honour on the top row either side of the crucifix are naturally occupied by Our Lady and St Joseph. But then, discounting the archangels Michael and Gabriel, all of the saints on this row are either from (or very closely associated with) the British Isles. Only St Gregory the Great (who sent the first missionaries to preach the Gospel here) and St George (patron of England) never visited in person.

From left to right, the saints depicted are:

Top row, left: St David of Wales, St Columba of Ireland and Scotland, St Edmund of Abingdon, St Edward the Confessor, St Frideswide of Oxford, St Dunstan of Glastonbury, St Michael the Archangel, St Bede the Venerable, St Hilda of Whitby, St Alban protomartyr of England, St Helen, St Gregory the Great and Our Lady.

Top row, right: St Joseph, St Augustine of Canterbury, St Winifred of Wales, St Chad Patron of the Archdiocese of Birmingham, St Edith of Wilton, St Cuthbert of Lindisfarne, St Gabriel the Archangel, St Thomas of Canterbury, St Bertha of Kent, St Hugh of Lincoln, St Simon Stock, St Thomas of Hereford and St George.

Bottom row, left: St Andrew the Apostle, St Charles Borromeo, St Stanislaus Kostka, St Francis Xavier, St Dominic, St Henry the Emperor, St Raphael the Archangel, St Augustine of Hippo, St Gertrude, St Ambrose, St Julia, St Peter the Apostle, St John the Evangelist.

Bottom row, right: St Mary Magdalene, St Paul, St Cecilia, St Sebastian, St Hubert, St Monica, St Uriel, St Ignatius, St Aloysius, Gonzaga, St Teresa, St Francis de Sales, St Vincent de Paul, St Patrick.

There are some other patterns to note: the patrons of the British isles at the end of each row; Peter and Paul flanking the cross; St Monica and her son St Augustine opposite each other; and four symmetrical archangels.

The only saints who are turned towards each other are St Gertrude and St Ambrose, although they had nothing to do with each other in life and lived centuries apart. But they were given in memory of a husband and wife, Ambrose and Gertrude, and now the statues gaze lovingly at each other as we pray the donors do now in heaven. He was clearly very devoted to her, because when she died he also commissioned the stained glass window of St Gertrude in the Lady Chapel.

Above the reredos are twenty more Saints with only their heads showing. They are, from left to right:

Four English Martyrs: Bl. John Forest, Bl. Margaret Pole, St Thomas More, St John Fisher
Four Western Doctors: St Thomas Aquinas, St Anselm, St Jerome, St Leo
Four Eastern Doctors: St Athanasius, St Ephraem the Syria, St Basil, St John Chrysostom
Four Monastic Founders: St Benedict, St Bruno, St Francis of Assisi, St Bernard
Four English Martyrs: St Edmund Campion, St Oliver Plunkett, St Alexander Briant, Bl. John Storey

The recently restored murals above the arches painted in 1905 by Gabriel Pippet show scenes from the life of St Aloysius: his First Communion, his renunciation of his inheritance, his taking his vows as a Jesuit brother, and his death serving the sick at age 23.

All the decoration is connected with the vine motif, which stretches all the way from the railings at the front of the sanctuary, through the murals and reredos, to the central pillar. This vine, which covers the whole sanctuary, represents our union with Christ. Notice, though, that it is only shown bearing fruit directly behind the tabernacle. We will only bear fruit if we remain close to Christ in Holy Communion.

The Lady Chapel is the principal place of devotion in our church to the Mother of Jesus. These side altars are places for private prayer and devotion as well as where priests celebrate Mass outside the regularly scheduled times. The statue of Our Lady of Wisdom was given to the church in 1914 and is by the distinguished firm of Mayer and Co. of Munich. The original altar in this chapel was by Morris and Co. and was of hammered copper and enamel in an Arts and Crafts style. Unfortunately no photographs of this altar exist.

As so often seems to be the case with the history of our church and the faith in our city, the loss of the original altar was simply a pruning that enabled even greater regrowth. The altar you see today — which looks as if it could have been designed for its current location — was originally in the chapel of the Ursuline convent school on St Giles, which then became St Benet’s Hall. The Ursulines and the Benedictines have both left Oxford, but the Mass continues to be celebrated on their old altar.

The chapel was redecorated in 2007, incorporating the monogram of Ave Maria, as well as the fleurs de lys, the traditional symbol of Our Lady’s purity. The window above the altar contains representations of titles given to Our Lady in her litany: Gate of Heaven, Morning Star, Mystical Rose, Ark of the Covenant, Tower of David, and Singular Vessel of Devotion. They are poetic titles, showing how the Virgin Mary, as the first disciple of Christ, free from original sin and totally dedicated to God, leads us to heaven.