St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church is a former church in Seel Street, Liverpool, England now transformed into a restaurant and bar called Alma de Cuba - "the soul of Cuba".
St. Peter's was built in 1788 by Rev A.B. MacDonald of the Order of St Benedict (O.S.B.); the area was mostly rural at the time. The church survived as a Catholic building until 1976, after which it served the local Polish community for a short time. For this reason it is affectionately known as 'the Polish Church'.
Up until its closure, St. Peter's was the oldest Catholic Church in Liverpool.
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Some milestones in St Peter's history include:
There is a story retold concerning Fr Basil Primavesi who was Parish Priest at St Peter's from 1929 until his death in 1937. One night during his tenure:
"The church was even threatened with destruction by a great fire which seemed likely to cross Back Seel Street. Fr Basil, roused from sleep, went down, placed a medal of St. Benedict on the church wall and returned to bed. A change of wind followed and materially aided the task of the fire-engines which had arrived."[1]
There appears to be no clear account of when the main extension to the church (listed as 1845 above) actually took place. This is remarkable as it is such a notable change in the Parish history. The situation is neatly summed in "A Century and a Half - Notes on St. Peter's (Seel Street) 1788-1938" by an author who clearly has access to the Parish Records:
"Even the year (of the extension) has been variously stated. Allanson[20] says 1845." (Fr Allanson wrote volumes on the English Benedictine History, and these were made available to the author by the then Abbot of Ampleforth). "The Centenary Commemoration says 1843. A note made about 1850 in a private account book mentions 1845. The Seel Street Guide (1868) gives 1846. However, the Church Notices book seemed decisive. On the last Sunday of Pentecost, 1845, the following was read: 'After to-day there will be no Mass either on Sundays or week-days in this chapel until the Sunday before Christmas when it will be again reopened for Divine Service...The Vestry will be opened every Sunday afternoon at 3 o'clock as usual for baptisms.' The next notices are dated 4th Sunday of Advent, 1845. So between November 23 and December 21 is the time of the building of the new sanctuary."[1]
It is interesting to note that the "Official Handbook" of the Grand Bazaar (1920) makes no note of an extension around 1845, though this could just be an omission.
The "Official Handbook" of the Grand Bazaar also mentions an apparently earlier extension: "1817 - Opening of New extension of St Peter's, previously a part of Presbytery. Sermon preached by Father Baines, O.S.B., of Bath, regarded as principal pulpit orator of his day (Burke, p. 35)." In "A Century and a half..." the author states that Fr Robinson, O.S.B.'s, tenure (which began in 1816) saw many changes to the parish. "In his second year" therefore 1818 " the church was 'enlarged' according to several brief notices, but judging by the picture of 1810, this can only mean the addition of the porch and of the gallery. However, the alteration was important enough to cause a solemn reopening on November 27, 1812...". The date here of 1812 makes no sense, so is likely to be a typo for 1818. It is interesting that the author of "A Century and a half..." is unaware of any part of the Presbytery being used for the 1818 extension, though the authors of the Bazaar Handbook may have simply have made an error. It is also worth noting that the author of "A Century and a half..." again quotes Allanson's volumes regarding the extension around 1818 which state that "gallery enlarged and organ built over the altar."
It would appear then that there are at least two extensions to the church, one ~ 1818, and a later more significant one ~ 1845. However, the lack of clarity in the documents available and those referenced by the authors is a puzzle.
The following is an extract from the Press Account on the Centenary of St Peter's in 1888, and explains some of the history of Catholic churches in Liverpool leading up to the founding of St Peter's:
“In 1701, Father Gillibrand, S. J., Chaplain of the Squire of Crosby, established the first religious services held in the city for Catholics for upwards of a century. In 1707, he came to reside permanently in Liverpool. In 1736, Father Hardisty, S. J., built the first Catholic Chapel, in Edmund Street. It was demolished by a mob in 1746. While a new chapel was being built, under the guise of a warehouse, by a wealthy merchant, named Pippard, the Catholics met stealthily for worship in the house of a Mr. and Mrs. Green in Dale Street, and the only friends of the proscribed ones were two large-hearted and tolerant Presbyterians who lived in adjoining houses, and who helped the Papists to gain, without observation, access to their temporary place of meeting. The Mission was and is still called St. Mary's.
In 1783, it passed out of the hands of the Jesuits into those of another learned Order, that of St. Benedict. In 1758, the chapel in Edmund Street had been destroyed during a riot, and a new building took its place in Lumber Street, of which no trace remains, its place now being held in Highfield Street by the fine Church planned by Augustus Welby Pugin, when that great designer's influence was beginning to be felt in the revival of Gothic architecture. Father Archibald MacDonald, O.S.B., was the first Benedictine attached to St. Mary's, in 1783, and it was he, who in 1788, founded St. Peter's. One hundred years ago, the site of St. Peter's, now pressed by closely clustered dwellings, factories and warehouses, had a rural environment. The choice of the spot on which to build the new church incurred for the zealous monk the mild displeasure of his superiors, who suggested it was too far out of town. Still, there St. Peter's was built, and there it still stands to-day.
Prominent on the venerable church are white marble memorials of departed Priests, who have ministered there.
On the Founder's monument we read: " In the vaults of this chapel are deposited the remains of the Rev. Archibald MacDonald, who departed this life on the 29 July, 1814, aged 78 years. The founder of this chapel, and for a period of 26 years its liberal, intelligent and revered pastor, to whose memory the Catholicks of Liverpool erect this monument.—R.I.P."
The other monuments are those of Father William Tarleton, O.S.B., who died in 1816 of typhus fever, caught while consoling the sick; Dr. James Appleton, O.S.B., D.D., who died a martyr of charity, in 1847; Father John Robinson, O.S.B, who died, deeply mourned by his flock, in 1837, and Father Vincent Glover, O.S.B, who died in 1840, aged 49.
Church Street in Liverpool takes its name from the former St Peter's Church (now demolished) which was "the first church built in Lancashire after the Reformation".[21] Students of history should not confuse this church with St Peter's R.C. Church in Seel Street.
The key references for most of the historical information listed on these pages are:
Other references: