Brompton Oratory
The London Oratory on Brompton Road, a Baroque-style Catholic church known for its domes, chapels and Sunday Latin Mass sung by its professional choir.
About Brompton Oratory
The Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, better known as Brompton Oratory or the London Oratory, is a large neo-classical Catholic church on Brompton Road, beside the Victoria and Albert Museum. It is home to the Congregation of the Oratory of St Philip Neri, a community of priests living under the rule set by their founder in the sixteenth century, and it also serves as a parish church.
Inside, the church is full of Baroque detail under its domes. The sanctuary is some 70 feet deep, with carved choir stalls inlaid with ivory. St Wilfrid's Chapel has an eighteenth century Flemish altar brought from Belgium and the only known religious painting by Rex Whistler, a triptych of Saints Thomas More and John Fisher. The Lady Altar came from a Dominican church in Brescia. Music is central to the Oratory's life: three choirs sing at services, and the Solemn Latin Mass at 11am and Vespers at 3.30pm on Sundays are sung by the Choir of the London Oratory.
It is worth a visit for architecture, sacred music or a quiet pause between museums. A self-guided walking tour is available on the Rambl app. Mass and service times are published on the Oratory's website.