Our Lady of Oxford

This picture of the Virgin Mary was given to the Church of St Aloysius in 1907 by Hartwell de la Garde Grissell (1839 -1907). An undergraduate at Brasenose and follower of the Tractarians, Grissell converted to Catholicism in 1868. While serving in Rome as Chamberlain to Pope Pius IX, he gathered a collection of relics and religious artefacts, including the entire corpse of an early Christian martyr St. Pacificus and what are believed by some to be portions of the Crown of Thorns, worn by Jesus at the Crucifixion. Grissell returned to Oxford and set up a private chapel at No. 60, High Street where newly arrived Catholic members of the University could worship. He is pictured just behind Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844 –1889) among the other founding members of the University Catholic Club. Along with Grissell’s extensive collection of relics, this image, known as ‘Our Lady of Oxford’ was bequeathed to the Church at his death and remains the focus of prayers for the City and the University.

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