St Patrick’s Soho Square has had a £3million restoration.
The church is built on the site of a former music hall, once the home of an actress who gave birth to a child fathered by Casanova.
The Second Catholic Relief Act of 1791 eased the legal bans on Catholic worship & a year later the property was leased to a Father Arthur O’Leary & consecrated for his prosperous Irish parishioners.
Today many of the 700 attendees at Sunday Mass live outside the area but belong to the Chinese & South American chaplaincies which are based at the church.
The works include a new kitchen in the crypt in which volunteers can prepare the weekly meals for the homeless.
James MacMillan has composed St Patrick’s Magnificat for unaccompanied voices in four parts especially for the reopening mass which takes place this evening.
