Pieta 1914-18 St. Mary R.C.

St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church, 2 Major Street
TS18 2DD. In the garden.

1914-18

Pieta – dedicated November 25th 1917 by Rev. Father Taylerson

Names added 1921?

Marble panels. Granite over-painted with white paint.

This was paid for by a ‘Carpet’ fund raised by the parishioners of the Church.

Pieta – Alberti Studio, Manchester

Pray for the souls of the following
who gave their lives in the Great War 1914 – 1918
(Names)

Greater love than this
no man hath, that a
man lay down his life
for his friends

Pieta on top of a square block 52 inches high x 78 inches long x 48 inches deep (132cms x 198cms x 121cms).

The block has a sunken panel 18inches high x 60 inches wide (48cms x 152cms) on the front which contains the dedication and names.

There is a sunken panel at each end 18 inches high x 36 inches wide (46cms x 91cms) high also bearing the names in three columns on each.

The lettering is incised in sans serif capitals.

1. The Church was built in 1842.

2. The Stockton Herald South Durham and Cleveland Advertiser 01/12/1917 reports:-
The people of St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church, Stockton, have established a lasting record of the bravery and self-sacrifice of the men who joined the Army and Navy from their church to die in a foreign land.

The memorial, which takes the form of a pieta depicting the dead body of Our Lord lying in His mother’s arms after being taken down from the cross, has been cleverly executed by the Alberti Studios, Manchester while two other parts of the memorial have been manufactured by Stockton firms.

The pieta has been placed at the main entrance of the church, and on the side of the pedestal are marble slabs upon which. when the time is opportune. will be inscribed the names of the dead.

The ceremony of unveiling and blessing. which took place last Sunday morning, solemnly performed by the Rev. Father Taylersen, after which a High Mass was given, for the repose of the of those who had died for their country: and a special sermon was preached by Father Campbell, an old curate of the church.

The parish of St. Mary’s has as is already well known, sent a large number of men to the Army and Navy, mostly to the latter. A good many of the boys in blue were formerly associated with St. Mary’s Church, and it is safe to say that no church in the country is better represented in the Navy than St. Mary’s. The Jutland Battle extracted a heavy toll from the men who had joined, and now over forty of these brave lade have “passed over the great beyond.”

3. The first name on the Pieta is the parish priest Father Matthew Forster Burdess. He was killed in France after only five weeks in France in April 1917.

4. The Memorial also included an altar rail. This was removed in the 1970s.

5. There has been an addition of a wooden angled roof over the Pieta, due to excess birds’ droppings defacing the Memorial.

Photos: C. Sanders; Simon Raine; James Pasby

Stockton Herald South Durham and Cleveland Advertiser
01/12/1917 reports dedication

Source of quotation
“Greater love hath no man . . .” St. John 15 v 13

Fitzhugh Collection, Middleton in Teesdale;
C. Sanders;
Dorothy Hall

The names on the Memorial have been researched by Tom and Joan Walker with help from Rev. David Youngson.

Contact: twwjpw@btinternet.com