Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, Christchurch: Difference between revisions

Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, Christchurch, F. W. Petre's largest completed work (pictured before damage caused by the earthquake of February 2011). The central pediment is in the style of Sebastiano Serlio.

The Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, located in the city centre of Christchurch, New Zealand, commonly known as the Christchurch Basilica, is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Christchurch and seat of the Bishop of Christchurch. It was designed by architect Francis Petre.

History

Begun in 1901, it replaced a smaller wooden church designed by Benjamin Mountfort that had been in use since 1864. The cathedral was officially opened on 12 February 1905, a mere four years after construction began. Today the building, said by some to be based on the 19th-century Church of St Vincent-de-Paul, in Paris, is held to be the finest renaissance style building in New Zealand and the most outstanding of all Petre's many designs.

Forsaking 19th century Gothic, Petre designed the new church in a Renaissance, Italian basilica style, with one major exception. Ignoring Renaissance convention, Petre obtained a greater visual impact by siting the Italianate green copper-roofed dome not above the cross section of the church (as in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome), but directly above the sanctuary. In Petre's opinion, this design element, coupled with the Byzantine apse, added extra grandeur and theatre to the high altar set in the tribune. The nave and chancel roofs were supported by colonnades of ionic columns and the entrance facade of the cathedral was flanked by twin towers in the manner of many of Europe's great renaissance churches.

Cathedral of The Blessed Sacrament, Christchurch, under construction. The nave is lined with Ionic columns.

While often likened to St. Paul's Cathedral in London, it is conceivable that the greatest influence behind this structure was Benoit Haffreingue. During Petre's formative years, Haffreingue had been the driving force of the reconstruction of the cathedral of Notre Dame in Boulogne-sur-Mer, a French cathedral that has a very similar plan to that of The Blessed Sacrament, including the controversial siting of the dome over the altar rather than the centre of the cathedral.

The Cathedral, constructed of concrete sheathed in Oamaru limestone, was widely acclaimed, causing the famous author George Bernard Shaw to describe Petre as a "New Zealand Brunelleschi". Fifty men were employed on the site, and in excess of 120,000 cubic ft (3400 m³) of stone, 4,000 cubic ft (110 m³) of concrete, and 90 tons of steel were used in the construction. Problems with finding suitable stone for the construction of such a large structure caused financial difficulties during the construction, and a special bill was pushed through parliament by then Premier Richard Seddon in order to aid with the financing of the building. The total cost to the Roman Catholic diocese was £52,000.

Earthquakes

The 2010 Canterbury earthquake a magnitude 7.1 earthquake of 4 September 2010 closed the Cathedral indefinitely to the public, to allow for seismic strengthening and restoration. Masses were not celebrated at the Cathedral from the September earthquake, but took place at other nearby locations such as the chapel of the adjacent Music Centre. However, although his Requiem Mass was celebrated at St Mary's Pro Cathedral, Manchester St, Bishop Cunneen was buried in the Cathedral.

The 2011 Christchurch earthquake (22 February 2011), a magnitude 6.3 earthquake, considerably damaged the Cathedral. The Cathedral administrator, Monsignor Charles Drennan, said that engineers had indicated that it was unlikely the building could be saved. The two bell towers at the front of the building collapsed, bringing much of the front façade down with them, with large blocks of masonry destroying vehicles in front of the building. There was also major cracking evident around the cathedral's main dome. Stained glass windows, which had survived the September 4 earthquake and some 4,000 aftershocks, were also "in ruins". Monsignor Drennan said that workers repairing damage to the building caused by the earlier earthquake, escaped, as did a custodian who was in the Cathedral at the time. The Buidling has been described as "quite humbled". On the collapsed front, "all that was left at the top was a cross piercing the sky - two angels abreast keeping vigil".<ref>Jane Bowron "Riding the cycle of life and death", The Dominion Post, Thursday, February 24, 2011, p. B5./<ref>

Burials

• Edward Joyce, Fourth Catholic Bishop of Christchurch
• John Jerome Cunneen, Eighth Catholic Bishop of Christchurch

References

• Catholic Diocese of Christchurch retrieved 7 May 2008.
• F.W. Petre at archINFORM, based on the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography Volume Two (1870–1900), 1993) retrieved 7 May 2008.

External links

• Media related to Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, Christchurch at Wikimedia Commons