These are the history pieces which appeared in the Batley St Mary of the Angels and Birstall St Patrick’s bulletin during September 2024. As the parishes are jointly administered and a single bulletin produced, the history pieces are not solely focused on St Mary of the Angels.
7/8 September 2024
In September 1939, the local newspapers reported on the unique family record of Birstall St Patrick’s priest Father Patrick Scannell. He had been at the parish for around three years. The recent ordination of his brothers Gerald and Brian Scannell brought the total of Scannell brothers now in Holy Orders to five. In addition, their sister was a nun in Borneo.
14/15 September 2024
On 17 September 1899 Father Charles Gordon announced to a dumbfounded congregation that he would be leaving St Mary’s after 25 years. Ordained on 15 August 1874, as a new priest he arrived at the parish shortly afterwards, taking up the position of curate to his eldest brother, Rev. William Gordon. Father Charles subsequently became parish priest at St Mary’s in late 1878 when his brother, William, was appointed the first rector of St Joseph’s Diocesan Seminary in Leeds. In 1890 Rev. William Gordon became the Bishop of Leeds, a position he held until his death in 1911, so it was his decision to move his brother from St Mary’s. Amazingly, Father Charles’ successor was yet another brother, Canon James Gordon. It meant that three Gordon brothers were consecutively priest-in-charge at the parish.
21/22 September 2024
On 21 September 1929, now free from any debt, St Mary of the Angels Church was consecrated by Dr Cowgill, Bishop of Leeds. The marble and mosaic altar, costing £1,100, was dedicated to Dean John Joseph Lea, who had been at the parish from 1899 until his death in April 1923. Amongst the congregational gifts were a gold Monstrance, a gold chalice, a 4-feet solid brass Crucifix, a brass Processional Cross and a brass mistal stand, all in a Celtic design, manufactured by Dublin craftsmen Gunning and Co., renowned for their ecclesiastical metalworks. The Young Men’s Society gave carved oak stalls for the sanctuary. The Sodality of the Children of Mary and the Confraternity of the Sacred Heart members presented two brass sanctuary lamps.
28/29 September 2024
Sister Mary Presentation, of the Order of St Paul the Apostle, began duties as headmistress of the St Patrick’s Day Schools on 2 October 1933. An assistant mistress at a Hounslow school for nine years, and a teacher at the Besford Court Catholic Institution for four years, she succeeded the late Rev. Mother Mary both at the school and as Superior of the Birstall Convent.
Past To Present Genealogy 