100 Churches in Paris and elsewhere

  103 London, St George’s RC cathedral Chunky lectern and stone-carved Stations of the Cross in this cathedral also in Southwark. Also a beautiful bishop’s chair (that is, the beautiful chair of a bishop). There is a memorial to Archbishop Oscar Romero of San Salvador who was assassinated  by a right-wing hit squad while celebrating mass. He was killed in response to his defence of the poor and vulnerable. He became a saint in 2018. Romero is also one of the ten 20th-century martyrs depicted in statues above the Great West Door of  Westminster Abbey  in London. You can see John Paul II portrayed in one of the stained glass windows. You can have your mass in Spanish every Sunday if you like.   The church was opened in 1848, and became a cathedral in 1852 (Catholic cathedrals having only just been relegalized). It was reopened after the repair of extensive war damage in 1958.

Be careful, there are actually two Southwark cathedrals, one for the Anglicans and the other for the Catholics. This is the Anglican one, the oldest one (though the Catholics might say that is only because the Anglicans nicked it from them a few hundred years ago). Its full name is The Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Saviour and St Mary Overie, Southwark. Now to take these folk in order, it is first important to note that Saint Saviour (if I understand correctly) is not some saint who thought he would benefit from a holier name than your other, common or garden saints. It just means “holy saviour”, so the church is actually dedicated directly to the bearded Fellow himself. St Mary Overie, similarly, is not the patron saint of gynaecologists. The expression is simply an old one meaning “St Mary’s over the river”. The cathedral is indeed, close to the Thames, opposite the city of London more or less. Many claim the first religious building on the site was a convent from the