Cathedral of the Holy Cross
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Cathedral of the Holy Cross is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston and the largest church in New England [1].
The cathedral was designed by Patrick Keely, a prolific American nineteenth century ecclesiastical architect. The cathedral is built in the neo-gothic style of variegated Roxbury puddingstone, with gray limestone trim. The planned western spire was never completed. When construction was finished the cathedral rivaled both Old South Church and Trinity Church in grandeur, signalling the emergence of Catholics in what was, at the time of construction, a largely Protestant city and state.
The cathedral is located at 1400 Washington Street, Boston, Massachusetts, in the city's South End neighborhood. Though the neighborhood was initially developed for Boston's emerging Anglo-Saxon Protestant middle class, the neighborhood transitioned to new immigrants, especially Irish, as middle class owners moved to the new Back Bay neighborhood.
[edit] History
"In 1860, Bishop Fitzpatrick recognized that the church in Boston had outgrown the old Cathedral on Franklin St. However, the Civil War interrupted the plans for the new Cathedral. Bishop Fitzpatrick died in 1866 and Bishop Williams took over planning for the Cathedral project. Ground was broken for the new Cathedral on April 29, 1866. The rites of dedication were performed on December 8, 1875 by Archbishop John J.Williams, Boston's first archbishop."[2]
Oct. 1, 1979, Pope John Paul II held a 38-minute prayer service for 2,000 priests in the Catheral. [3]
