St Peter's Cathedral, Belfast

Saint Peter's Cathedral
Saint Peter's Cathedral, Belfast
Saint Peter's Cathedral Location within Northern Ireland
Location	Belfast, County Antrim
Country	Northern Ireland
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Website	stpeterscathedralbelfast.com
Architecture
Architect(s)	Fr. Jeremiah Ryan McAuley John O'Neill
Style	Gothic Revival
Years built	1860–1866
Specifications
Length	180ft (54.8m)
Width	70ft (21.3m)
Number of spires	2
Administration
Province	Armagh
Diocese	Down and Connor (since 1866)
Clergy
Bishop(s)	Most Rev Noel Treanor
Laity
Director of music	Nigel McClintock
Organist(s)	Nigel McClintock

St. Peter's Cathedral, Belfast. (Irish: Ard Eaglais Naomh Peadar) is the Roman Catholic cathedral church for the Diocese of Down and Connor, and is therefore the episcopal seat of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Down and Connor. It is located in the Divis Street area of the Falls Road in Belfast, Northern Ireland and dates from the 1860s. It is home to St Peter's Schola Cantorum (Choir).

History

The cathedral was originally a parish church. It was designed by Fr Jeremiah Ryan McAulay, who had trained as an architect before he became a priest, and built on a site donated by a local baker. Bernard Hughes. It opened on 14 October 1866.

Until the Reformation the cathedral of the Diocese of Down & Connor had been at Downpatrick. Since that was no longer available, St Peter's was made into a pro-cathedral, or temporary cathedral, for the Diocese, until 29 June 1986, when it became a cathedral in the full sense.

Past Administrators

From St Peter's Cathedral website unless otherwise stated:

• Fr William Blaney: 1866–1873
• Fr Andrew McAuley: 1873–1882
• Fr Patrick Convery: 1882–1895
• Fr John McCartan: 1895–1898
• Fr John Tohill: 1898–1905
• Fr Bernard Laverty: 1905–1911
• Fr John Healy: 1911–1919
• Fr Thomas McDonald: 1919–1929
• Fr Alexander McAteer: 1929–1930
• Fr George McKillop: 1930–1943
• Fr John McLaverty: 1938–1943
• Fr George Watson: 1943–1945
• Fr Leo McKeown: 1945–1949
• Fr Laurence Higgins: 1949–1955
• Fr Patrick McAtamney: 1955–1960
• Fr Joseph McConville: 1960–1963
• Fr James McCloskey: 1963–1966
• Fr Sean O’Neill: 1966–1967
• Canon Padraig Murphy: 1967–1971
• Fr Francis Teggart: 1971–1974
• Fr Alec Darragh: 1974–1978
• Fr Vincent McKinley: 1978–1983
• Fr Joseph McGurnaghan: 1983–1986
• Fr Sean Connolly: 1986–1990
• Fr Anthony Alexander: 1990–1994
• Monsignor Thomas Toner: 1994–2006
• Fr Hugh Kennedy: 2006–2016
• Fr Martin Graham: 2016 –

Bibliography

• Peter Galloway, The Cathedrals of Ireland, The Institute of Irish Studies, The Queen's University of Belfast, (1992).

External links

• A picture of the cathedral.
• Official Site