A SHORT HISTORY OF ST. GREGORY'S SILEBY
From penal times until the Act of Catholic Emancipation in 1829 the freedom of Catholics was limited. For example, they were not allowed to go to university or become members of parliament.
Soon after Catholic emancipation the Phillipps-De Lisle family, of Garendon Hall and Gracedieu, who had converted to Catholicism, invited the Rosminians (an Italian order founded by Abbato Antonio Rosmini) to come to this area to preach and convert. Their first church, St. Mary’s in Loughborough, was opened in 1835.
The fathers were agreed as early as 1841 that a novitiate house should be built somewhere near Loughborough. Eventually, despite some local opposition, a site of 56 acres was found on the Fosse Rd and was bought in 1842. Pugin was engaged to build the house and eventually permission was given for a college for the education of boys alongside the novitiate. The first name chosen for the buildings was "The Calvary of Sileby" but Fr Luigi Gentili, the senior member of the Institute, pointed out that Sileby had an unpleasant sound and changed the name to Ratcliffe. The college opened in 1844.
The fathers’ efforts at conversion in Sileby were largely unsuccessful until there was a near famine in 1865 when the people went to Ratcliffe for food. There is still a door in the college called the famine door, presumably the door at which food was distributed. There is also a record of a young convert giving lessons in Catechism in the "Horse and Trumpet" in 1865. He was ordained later (Father Knight).
Thereafter, people began to show an interest in the church and some conversions were made; about 70 children were instructed in the faith. As a result of this a school was needed and the fathers succeeded in buying a plot with three thatched cottages on it; these were converted into a school room. By 1874 Father Bone, who was responsible for the school, decided that a new school was needed. A school church (this is how it is described in the report of the Bishop’s visitation) was built on the site of the old school and services were held there on Sunday evenings. The people still had to go to Ratcliffe for Mass until 1877. In the same Bishop’s report the “principal Catholics” are named as Mrs Vincent Wells and Mr Vincent Wells (farmers in Seagrave), Mrs Crosby, Brook Street, and Mr Francis Davis, Ratcliffe Road.
In 1883 at the time of the Bishop’s visitation a full description of the church and its contents are given. The furniture of the school as well as the vestments and church plate are all described as “adequate and in good order”; they all belonged to the Order of Charity (the Rosminians at Ratcliffe). At that time there were 72 Catholics in Sileby with another 148 in the surrounding villages. The “principal Catholics” named in this report are the same as in 1878 with the addition of Mr Walker, a labourer in Brook Street who had a wife and five children , and Mr Kidger of Swan Street/Gate Lane who had a wife and four children.
Sileby and Barrow were united into one parish in 1885.
The church was licensed for marriages in 1898
It seems that the school which opened in 1874 was not heard of again after 1885. The school mistress in 1878 was Honoria Crowe, aged 26, who was certificated and was helped by her sister Ann Crowe age 17. Both had good reports from the Diocesan and the Government inspectors. The average attendance was 50 though there were 90 “in the book”.
In 1919 it is recorded that Sileby had a Catholic population of 200 and the church had an annual income of £60.00.
Numerous alterations and improvements were carried out at St Gregory’s in 1936.
The Rosminians relinquished the care of the parish in 1971, and Diocesan priests were resident in Sileby from 1971 until 2002. It is still an independent parish , but the priest now lives in Syston.
The parish hall, which had served as Sacred Heart Church on Mere Road in Leicester from 1882 to 1924, was dismantled and rebuilt in Sileby in the latter year. In its turn it was demolished in 2002 and has been replaced by St Gregory’s Social Centre , which now functions as an additional village amenity for Sileby.
From penal times until the Act of Catholic Emancipation in 1829 the freedom of Catholics was limited. For example, they were not allowed to go to university or become members of parliament.
Soon after Catholic emancipation the Phillipps-De Lisle family, of Garendon Hall and Gracedieu, who had converted to Catholicism, invited the Rosminians (an Italian order founded by Abbato Antonio Rosmini) to come to this area to preach and convert. Their first church, St. Mary’s in Loughborough, was opened in 1835.
The fathers were agreed as early as 1841 that a novitiate house should be built somewhere near Loughborough. Eventually, despite some local opposition, a site of 56 acres was found on the Fosse Rd and was bought in 1842. Pugin was engaged to build the house and eventually permission was given for a college for the education of boys alongside the novitiate. The first name chosen for the buildings was "The Calvary of Sileby" but Fr Luigi Gentili, the senior member of the Institute, pointed out that Sileby had an unpleasant sound and changed the name to Ratcliffe. The college opened in 1844.
The fathers’ efforts at conversion in Sileby were largely unsuccessful until there was a near famine in 1865 when the people went to Ratcliffe for food. There is still a door in the college called the famine door, presumably the door at which food was distributed. There is also a record of a young convert giving lessons in Catechism in the "Horse and Trumpet" in 1865. He was ordained later (Father Knight).
Thereafter, people began to show an interest in the church and some conversions were made; about 70 children were instructed in the faith. As a result of this a school was needed and the fathers succeeded in buying a plot with three thatched cottages on it; these were converted into a school room. By 1874 Father Bone, who was responsible for the school, decided that a new school was needed. A school church (this is how it is described in the report of the Bishop’s visitation) was built on the site of the old school and services were held there on Sunday evenings. The people still had to go to Ratcliffe for Mass until 1877. In the same Bishop’s report the “principal Catholics” are named as Mrs Vincent Wells and Mr Vincent Wells (farmers in Seagrave), Mrs Crosby, Brook Street, and Mr Francis Davis, Ratcliffe Road.
In 1883 at the time of the Bishop’s visitation a full description of the church and its contents are given. The furniture of the school as well as the vestments and church plate are all described as “adequate and in good order”; they all belonged to the Order of Charity (the Rosminians at Ratcliffe). At that time there were 72 Catholics in Sileby with another 148 in the surrounding villages. The “principal Catholics” named in this report are the same as in 1878 with the addition of Mr Walker, a labourer in Brook Street who had a wife and five children , and Mr Kidger of Swan Street/Gate Lane who had a wife and four children.
Sileby and Barrow were united into one parish in 1885.
The church was licensed for marriages in 1898
It seems that the school which opened in 1874 was not heard of again after 1885. The school mistress in 1878 was Honoria Crowe, aged 26, who was certificated and was helped by her sister Ann Crowe age 17. Both had good reports from the Diocesan and the Government inspectors. The average attendance was 50 though there were 90 “in the book”.
In 1919 it is recorded that Sileby had a Catholic population of 200 and the church had an annual income of £60.00.
Numerous alterations and improvements were carried out at St Gregory’s in 1936.
The Rosminians relinquished the care of the parish in 1971, and Diocesan priests were resident in Sileby from 1971 until 2002. It is still an independent parish , but the priest now lives in Syston.
The parish hall, which had served as Sacred Heart Church on Mere Road in Leicester from 1882 to 1924, was dismantled and rebuilt in Sileby in the latter year. In its turn it was demolished in 2002 and has been replaced by St Gregory’s Social Centre , which now functions as an additional village amenity for Sileby.
