Valencia’s flood victims remembered in London during Requiem Mass at St James’s, Spanish Place 

Victims of Valencia’s terrible floods were remembered at a Requiem Mass held at St James’s, Spanish Place Church in London, with embassy officials and members of the local Spanish community leading the tributes.

The Lord Mayor of Westminster, Cllr Robert Rigby, represented the people of Westminster at the much-loved beautiful church that also stands out amid busy modern-day life on the streets of London as a historical bastion of Roman Catholicism in the UK capital.

Also present at the Mass on 3 December was the Apostolic Nuncio to Great Britain, His Excellency Archbishop Miguel Maury Buendía, and His Excellency José Pascual Marco, Spanish ambassador to the UK.

“The Spanish community has been well established in London for centuries and everyone was devastated by the loss of life in Valencia,” the Lord Mayor said.

“I wanted to be there to stress the City stands with Valencia during this traumatic time and [that] the loss of life has been felt deeply here.”

The torrential rain and flooding which hit the coastal city at the end of October was the deadliest in modern Spanish history, killing more than 220 people, reports the BBC.

A large Gothic-styled church, Spanish Place has a rich history dating back to the 18th century. The church has become inextricably linked with Spanish Place, the road opposite the current church, due to its historic and Catholic ties with the Spanish Embassy.

“The visitor to St James’s Church is often puzzled to know why a church which stands in George Street, W1, should have derived a kind of secondary title from a street called Spanish Place which can be found opposite the Presbytery door,” notes the church’s website.

“The explanation is that St James’s, Spanish Place, like so many of the older parishes in the Westminster diocese, can trace its origin to the penal times and to the benefactions of a friendly Catholic embassy.

“This is perhaps the reason why, despite the magnificence of the church, there is within an atmosphere that breathes our Catholic past.”

Photo: St James’s, Spanish Place Church (Credit: Alex Ramsay.)

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