St. Gregory's RC Church
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • FR JOHN ST JOHN
    • FR. CLEMENT ORANGO >
      • SPONSORED WALK
      • PARISH EVENTS
      • JAMBO
      • BARROW VOICE
      • FROM FATHER'S DESK
    • FATHER ANTHONY PATEMAN >
      • BIOGRAPHY
      • FATHER PATEMAN'S LAST MASS IN BARROW
    • BISHOP PATRICK
    • FR. VINCENT'S UGANDAN MISSION >
      • CATHOLIC NEWS Nov 2018
      • NEWSLETTER 2019
      • NEWSLETTER 2018
      • NEWSLETTER 2016
      • NEWSLETTER 2015
    • HISTORY >
      • ST. ALBAN'S BARROW UPON SOAR
      • ST. GREGORY'S SILEBY
      • ST. GREGORY'S STATIONS OF THE CROSS
      • PRIESTS OF THE MISSION
      • DIOCESE OF NOTTINGHAM ARCHIVES
      • LOUGHBOROUGH LIBRARY
      • THE BELL
      • REV. ALOYSIUS EMERY
      • PHOTO GALLERY
    • NEWS >
      • CATHOLIC NEWS - Ecumenism in Barrow upon Soar
      • TERRY & SHEILA BREED
      • FR DAVID JONES
      • DAISY'S NAMIBIA TRIP
      • CATHOLIC NEWS - ADVENT
      • CATHOLIC NEWS - Bishop's visit
      • CATHOLIC NEWS - Sacred Heart Statue
      • CATHOLIC NEWS - Sponsored Walk
      • SHEILA BREED AWARD
      • AMERICAN VISITORS
      • CHURCH REFURBISHMENT
      • LOCAL PRESS CUTTINGS
    • POPE FRANCIS
    • SERVICES
    • SMARTIES
    • WEEKLY NEWSLETTER >
      • NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE (from 12th July 2020)
      • NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE (from 5th January 2020)
      • NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE (from July 2019)
      • NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE (from 5th January 2019)
      • NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE (from 5th August 2018)
      • NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE (from 16th July 2017 )
  • GROUPS
    • A.P.F.
    • ALTAR SERVERS >
      • WILF DOYLE
      • WILF DOYLE THE EVACUEE
      • WILF DOYLE GALLERY
    • CAFOD
    • CHILDREN'S LITURGY
    • CHURCHES TOGETHER IN BARROW
    • FINANCE COMMITTEE
    • FRIENDS OF ST. GREGORY'S
    • JUSTICE AND PEACE
    • LITURGY GROUP
    • PARISH PASTORAL COUNCIL >
      • ROLE OF THE PPC
      • PPC MINUTES 2019
      • PPC MINUTES 2018
      • PPC MINUTES 2017
      • PPC MINUTES 2016
    • R.C.I.A.
    • SPECIAL MINISTERS
    • YOUTH GROUP
  • ROTAS
    • CHURCH CLEANERS
    • MINISTERS OF THE WORD
    • OFFERTORY
    • TEA & COFFEE
  • SACRAMENTS
    • ANOINTING OF THE SICK
    • BAPTISM
    • CONFIRMATION
    • RECONCILIATION & FIRST COMMUNION
    • MARRIAGE
    • PRIESTHOOD
  • GALLERY
    • PARISHIONERS ON THEIR TRAVELS >
      • ISAAC BANKS IN ROME
    • 2020 >
      • BONDHON BANGLADESH PROJECT
      • YOUTH GROUP QUIZ
      • NEW PARISHIONERS
    • 2019 >
      • CHRISTMAS TREE FESTIVAL
      • "MATURE" PARISHIONERS' CHRISTMAS LUNCH
      • COINCIDENCE!
      • CHRISTMAS FAYRE 2019
      • YOUTH SUNDAY - CHRIST THE KING
      • CHRISTMAS SHOEBOX APPEAL
      • NEW ALTAR SERVER
      • A NEW PARISHIONER
      • DAISY'S NAMIBIA TRIP
      • MARY'S MEALS
      • MACMILLAN COFFEE MORNING
      • CONFIRMATION 2019
      • SHEILA & WILF - WWII EVACUEES
      • PARISH GARDEN PARTY 2019
      • EUCHARISTIC MINISTERS
      • FIRST HOLY COMMUNION
      • A NEW PARISHIONER
      • OUR NEWEST ALTAR SERVER
      • SHEILA & TERRY'S 65th ANNIVERSARY
      • VISITORS FROM SOUTH AFRICA
      • FR JOHN'S BIRTHDAY
    • 2018 >
      • NATIVITY MASS
      • SENIORS' CHRISTMAS PARTY
      • BARROW CHRISTMAS TREE 2018
      • YOUTH SUNDAY 2018
      • CHRISTMAS FAYRE 2018
      • HARVEST FESTIVAL
      • PARISH SUMMER PICNIC
      • RETREAT 2018
      • WALSINGHAM 2018
      • PENTECOST SUNDAY
      • FOUR GENERATIONS
      • BRAIN TUMOUR CAKE SALE
      • A FAMILIAR FACE
      • DENNIS HARGREAVES
    • 2017 >
      • MARY'S MEALS
      • NEWEST ALTAR SERVER
      • BARROW CHRISTMAS TREE 2017
      • 2017 CHRISTMAS FAYRE
      • MACMILLAN COFFEE MORNING
      • CONFIRMATION
      • A NEW PARISHIONER
      • WALSINGHAM 2017
      • SACRED HEART STATUE
      • SPONSORED WALK
      • CONFIRMATION GROUP
      • FR PATEMAN'S HOUSEWARMING
      • PEACE SUNDAY
    • 2016 >
      • OVER 60s CHRISTMAS PARTY
      • BARROW CHRISTMAS TREE FESTIVAL
      • CHRISTMAS FAYRE 2016
      • YOUTH GROUP ON THE WATER
      • TERRY CANTLE'S 90th BIRTHDAY
      • YOUTH GROUP VISITS FATHER ANTHONY
      • WALSINGHAM 2016
      • PENTECOST SUNDAY 15th MAY
      • FIRST COMMUNION 27th MARCH
      • DOOR OF MERCY
      • WOMEN'S WORLD DAY OF PRAYER
    • 2015 >
      • CHRISTMAS EVE MASS 2015
      • YOUTH GROUP CLIMBING 2015
      • FRIENDS' CHRISTMAS LUNCH 2015
      • OVER 60s CHRISTMAS PARTY 2015
      • BARROW CHRISTMAS TREE 2015
      • FR CLEMENT'S INDUCTION 2015
      • CHRISTMAS FAYRE 2015
      • FR CLEMENT AT DE LISLE COLLEGE 2015
      • FR ANTHONY'S LAST BARROW MASS
      • NEW ALTAR SERVERS 2015
      • YOUNG PARISHIONERS' FAREWELL PARTY 2015
      • FIRST COMMUNION 2015
      • YOUTH GROUP ON THE WATER 2015
      • WALSINGHAM 2015
      • FATHER PATEMAN'S GOLDEN CELEBRATION 2015
      • FATHER ANTHONY'S 75th BIRTHDAY 2015
    • 2014 >
      • "MATURE" PARISHIONERS' CHRISTMAS LUNCH
      • ROME TRIP 2014
      • CHRISTMAS FAYRE 2014
  • DEVOTION
    • PRAYER & DEVOTION TOGETHER
    • SPIRITUAL COMMUNION
    • AFRICAN SAINTS
    • BEATITUDES FOR A MARRIED COUPLE
    • JUBILEE OF MERCY
    • LENTEN JOURNEY 2017
    • ROSARY
    • MEDITATION
    • PADRE PIO
    • PARISHIONER'S FAITH STORY
    • PRAYERS
    • ROSMINI CENTRE
    • STATIONS OF THE CROSS
    • MARY'S WAY OF THE CROSS
    • SAINT ALBAN
    • SAINT ANTHONY
    • SAINT GREGORY
    • ST. JOSEPH
    • ST. PATRICK
    • SAINT JOHN XXIII
    • ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
  • CONTACT
    • HOW TO FIND US
    • LINKS
    • SOCIAL CENTRE
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.

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture