Sacred Heart Cathedral, Wellington

Sacred Heart Cathedral
Metropolitan Cathedral of the Sacred Heart and St Mary his Mother
Wellington, Hill St
41°16′36″S 174°46′34″E
Location	Thorndon, Wellington Central City
Country	New Zealand
Denomination	Catholic
Website	Sacred Heart Cathedral website
History
Former name(s)	St Mary's Cathedral
Founded	1850, 1901
Founder(s)	Philippe Viard, 1st Bishop of Wellington
Dedication	1850, 1901
Consecrated	1984
Architecture
Heritage designation	Category I
Designated	2 April 1985
Architect(s)	Francis Petre
Architectural type	Neo-classical
Completed	1901
Administration
Parish	Sacred Heart Cathedral Parish
Clergy
Bishop(s)	Archbishop John Atcherley Dew, 6th Archbishop of Wellington (2005-present)
Priest(s)	Fr James Lyons (Cathedral Administrator and Parish Priest)
Laity
Director of music	Michael Fletcher
Organist(s)	Michael Fletcher

The Metropolitan Cathedral of the Sacred Heart and of Saint Mary His Mother, better known as Sacred Heart Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic cathedral on Hill Street, Thorndon in Wellington, New Zealand. It is the cathedral of the Archbishop of Wellington

History

The first church to be built on the Hill Street Site was St. Mary's Cathedral, blessed and opened in 1851. It was gutted by fire in 1898, during repainting. Because the Catholic population of Wellington was then mostly based in the Te Aro and Newtown areas, it was decided that a new cathedral should be erected in that part of the city and a 'serviceable church in brick' built on the site of the old cathedral.

Sacred Heart interior, circa 1910.

However the new church, called the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, was rather grander than this. Its foundation stone was laid in 1899 and the building blessed and opened two years later. The money to build Sacred Heart was taken from the fund for the new cathedral. The new cathedral was never actually built. In 1983 the Basilica was elevated to the status of a cathedral by Cardinal Thomas Williams. The following year it was made a Category 1 Historic Place.

Design

Designed by architect Francis Petre, Sacred Heart was built on a classical basilican plan, with ionic columns of Oamaru stone and a high pediment. For a period it had twin bell towers topped with domes, but these additions - not in Petre's design - were removed in 1942, following an earthquake.

The interior features a main aisle and two side aisles, a large colonnaded nave and a large arch forming the entrance to the sanctuary.

See also

• Francis Petre and Sacred Heart Cathedral, Wellington
• Sacred Heart Cathedral School, Thorndon
• St Mary's College, Wellington
• Sisters of Mercy
• Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Wellington
• Roman Catholicism in New Zealand
• Holy Cross College (New Zealand)
• Holy Name Seminary

Sources

• Official site
• "Cathedral of the Sacred Heart (Catholic)". Register of Historic Places. New Zealand Historic Places Trust. http://www.historic.org.nz/TheRegister/RegisterSearch/RegisterResults.aspx?RID=214&m=advanced. Retrieved 2009-12-21. 
• Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand: Photograph of the Cathedral showing bell towers.
• Dan Kelly, On Golders Hill: A History of the Thorndon Parish, Daniel Kelly/Parish of the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Sacred Heart and of Saint Mary His Mother, Wellington, 2001.