This was not the vision for this building when it was opened. When he preached at the opening Mass on 20th October 1874, Cardinal Manning declared: “A sanctuary has been opened to be specifically devoted to the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.” This was the first Catholic Church in this land to be dedicated to Corpus Christi after the Protestant Reformation and it was built in reparation for the sins committed against the Blessed Sacrament in those days and in the centuries that followed. Cardinal Manning opened the church to reaffirm the beating heart of our Catholic life, the Mass, i.e. the earthly reality and presence of the Body and Blood of Christ.