The Church of the Sacred Heart

The Church of the Sacred Heart and Saint Catherine of Alexandria in Droitwich Spa is a fine Grade II listed building containing stunning mosaics and sculpture, but it is essentially a quiet place for prayerful worship.

The mosaics of the church are considered to be among the finest in England. They were designed by Gabriel Pippet and carried out by the mosaicists Maurice Josey and Fred Oates.Mosaics are composed of tessarae coloured pieces of Venetian glass. The designs were carried out by Gabriel in full size cartoon form. The outlines were transferred onto the walls and then each individual piece of mosaic was fixed to the plastered walls by the mosaicists.

Gabriel Pippet spent some time in Ravenna and Rome where he was most impressed by the mosaic decoration, and this influence is clearly apparent in this church. The mosaicist, Maurice Josey, had been employed on the mosaics in Westminster Cathedral before he came to Droitwich.

Gabriel Pippet designed and carried out all the stone sculpture on the outside and inside the church and he also carved fourteen Stations of the Cross in oak.

The walls of the church are covered in marble and in mosaics portraying major themes, stories and individual holy figures. The website cannot begin to do justice to the full scope and brilliance of the mosaics but some of the principal areas are described and illustrated in the website.

There is a guidebook available in the church (by Father Gerard Harrison S.C.J.) with detailed information on the mosaics and the stories behind them.The church is usually open every day during daylight hours.