So far in our tour of the London Oratory you have seen some pretty familiar sites; the high altar, the altar of Our Lady and St. Philip Neri, as well as the new chapel of Blessed John Henry Newman. We also saw St. Wilfrid's chapel, which may be a little less familiar to some, but we are now at the point in our tour where we will show readers some of the rarely seen chapels of the oratory, beginning with the next one down the nave as we progress back toward the narthex, the chapel of St. Mary Magdelene.
The altar, which houses the relics of the fifth century bishop, St. Eutropius, was designed by Gribble and includes a painting executed by Vittorio Codina y Langlin (1844-1911), which depicts St Mary Magdalene kneeling in penitence.
To either side of the altar itself are Venetian mosaics that depict the life of St. Mary Magdalene. These were done by A. Capello in the 1880's are a dedicated to the memory of one "Commander Blake" of the U.S. Navy.
Next to these, on either side, are niches which contain statues of two contemporaries of St. Philip Neri: St. Teresa of Avila and St. Camillus of Lellis.
Just outside of the altar rail to either side of these niches are two doorways which proceed into other chapels. These are made of Sicilian marble and contain above each of them a Latin word: "Dilectio" (Love) and "Contritio" (Contrition).
Finally, here are some views of the ceiling and some of the other details found within the chapel.
One final look back at the chapel of St. Mary Magdelene.
