At the Oratory, there is marble just about everywhere, while dainty windows cast pockets of light across colours of red, green and royal blue and onto white walls etched brightly in gold. Above, ceilings are covered in saintly murals, patterns and stucco; paintings are laid into pillared apse chapels that branch out from the nave — wider, even, than that at St Paul’s Cathedral — with its carved arches and creaking wooden floor. At the back, on a candled altar, drapery and finery abound, as if Catholics in all their unapologetic splendour wish only to double down on what some perceive to be frippery.
Brompton Oratory, the church that was also a KGB dead drop
