Shrine to first city Church in Liverpool

"A shrine dedicated to Liverpool’s first ever church is to be unveiled in the city.

The hand-carved wooden shrine commemorates St Mary Del Quay church, which was built at the Pier Head in 1207.

It will be unveiled during a service at SFX church in Shaw Street, Everton, which will also honour the 300th anniversary of Liverpool’s first Catholic priest after the Reformation.

Father William Gillibrand moved to a room above a grocer’s shop in what is now North John Street in 1707.

He went on to celebrate Mass for the small number of Roman Catholics then living in the city.

Tam Ashton, a seven-times removed niece of Jesuit priest Father Gillibrand, will attend the service at SFX on Sunday, December 2.

She will be joined by representatives of the Blundell family of Crosby Hall where Fr Gillibrand lived before moving to Liverpool, and the Anglican Rector of Liverpool, Reverend Stephen Brookes."

Source

Some history to help the Rector's memory of what happened during the Reformation.

Of your charity, pray for the repose of the soul of Fr Gillibrand who died on 22nd March 1779.