150 Years of St Aloysius’ Church: (4) The Relic Chapel
The Relic Chapel is one of the most beautiful spaces in our Church. The furnishings were part of the legacy of an Oxford man, Hartwell de la Garde Grissell, who also received the image of Our Lady of Oxford from Blessed Pope Pius IX in 1869. It is an ancient tradition to enshrine an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary as the special protector of a place and to invoke her aid under the title of that place. Here we invoke her as Our Lady of Oxford and Mother of Mercy, confident that she intercedes with her Son for the protection of all in our city and university.
When Grissell died in 1907, he left the contents of his private chapel to the church on condition that a chapel be built to house it all. The font was moved and the chapel redecorated. The wall paintings in this chapel are of early Christian scenes and symbols from the Roman catacombs by the Catholic Arts and Crafts artist, Gabriel Pippet. They were restored in 2009. They depict two deer drinking from the waters of a fountain, evoking the words of Psalm 41: “Like the deer that yearns for running streams, so my soul is thirsting for you, my God.” There are also images of Christ the Good Shepherd, a typical early Christian depiction of Jesus, as well as the Blessed Virgin Mary and Christ child. Other symbols represent aspects of the Christian faith. The peacock represents new life and resurrection; loaves and fish point to the eucharist and the heavenly banquet; and the anchor is an early Christian symbol that symbolises arriving in the divine harbour of peace. Images of martyred saints take up the ancient posture of prayer, and the burning lamps represent faith.
These early Christian images are particularly appropriate since the chapel houses a collection of the relics of many saints, among them a number of the early Christian martyrs who were once buried in the catacombs in Rome.
Relics are reserved here not only for private prayer and veneration, but also to be placed on the altar during the celebration of Mass on solemn feasts. For Christians, the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and is a sacred thing, to be treated with care and reverence. Since we revere the saints as holy men and women, extraordinary individuals filled with the Holy Spirit, we reverence their mortal remains as having been filled with that same Spirit as holy relics. It is something of a popular myth that the early Christians prayed in the catacombs just to avoid persecution. That may have been true at times, but those early Christians continued to celebrate Mass in the catacombs in time of peace because they wanted to be close to their brothers and sisters who had gone before them. Their bodies are a tangible link to their souls in heaven, and so to heaven itself.