Sacred Heart Cathedral, Wellington: Difference between revisions

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The Cathedral choir played a prominent role in two important [[state funeral]]s and an anniversary held in the Cathedral.
The Cathedral choir played a prominent role in two important [[state funeral]]s and an anniversary held in the Cathedral.


[[Joseph Ward|Sir Joseph Ward]], the 17th Prime Minister, died in July 1930.<ref name="Bassett">Michael Bassett, ''Sir Joseph Ward: A political biography'', Auckland University Press, 1993, pp. 283 and 284.</ref> Ward had prayed daily in the basilica for all of his thirty-seven years in Parliament. The [[requiem mass]] was celebrated on 9 July by [[Thomas O'Shea (Archbishop of Wellington)|Bishop O'Shea]], and [[Francis Redwood|Archbishop Redwood]], the 1st Archbishop of Wellington, (in the words of the ''NZ Herald'') "unbent beneath the weight of his 91 years ... in his scarlet vestment, was a commanding and impressive figure", delivered the[[panagyric]].<ref name="Bassett"/>
[[Joseph Ward|Sir Joseph Ward]], the 17th Prime Minister, died in July 1930.<ref name="Bassett">Michael Bassett, ''Sir Joseph Ward: A political biography'', Auckland University Press, 1993, pp. 283 and 284.</ref> Ward had prayed daily in the basilica for all of his thirty-seven years in Parliament. The [[requiem mass]] was celebrated on 9 July by [[Thomas O'Shea (Archbishop of Wellington)|Bishop O'Shea]], and [[Francis Redwood|Archbishop Redwood]], the 1st Archbishop of Wellington, (in the words of the ''NZ Herald'') "unbent beneath the weight of his 91 years ... in his scarlet vestment, was a commanding and impressive figure", delivered the[[panagyric]]. After the Mass, Ward's casket lay in the basilica where a steady stream of people came and went during the day. It was then transferred across the road to [[New Zealand Parliament|Parliament Buildings]] by his colleagues and family before being transported to [[Bluff]] where he was buried. <ref name="Bassett"/>


[[Michael Joseph Savage]], the 23rd, and 1st Labour, Prime Minister on New Zealand, died on 27 March 1940.<ref>Barry Gustafson, ''From the Cradle to the Grave: A biography of Michael Joseph Savage'', Reed Methuen, Auckland, 1986, p. 271.</ref> His funeral gave the Cathedral choir a chance to achieve national recognition, as it was broadcast nationally. The crowd was so great in the church - even the organist needed an official invitation - that the boys in the choir were forced to sing from the [[chancel]] galleries high above the altar.<ref>Dan Kelly, pp. 140 and 141.</ref>
[[Michael Joseph Savage]], the 23rd, and 1st Labour, Prime Minister on New Zealand, died on 27 March 1940.<ref>Barry Gustafson, ''From the Cradle to the Grave: A biography of Michael Joseph Savage'', Reed Methuen, Auckland, 1986, p. 271.</ref> His funeral gave the Cathedral choir a chance to achieve national recognition, as it was broadcast nationally. The crowd was so great in the church - even the organist needed an official invitation - that the boys in the choir were forced to sing from the [[chancel]] galleries high above the altar.<ref>Dan Kelly, pp. 140 and 141.</ref>

Revision as of 19:51, 10 November 2014

Sacred Heart Cathedral
Metropolitan Cathedral of the Sacred Heart and St Mary his Mother
Wellington, Hill St
Map
41°16′36″S 174°46′34″E / 41.2766°S 174.7762°E / -41.2766; 174.7762
LocationThorndon, Wellington Central City
CountryNew Zealand
DenominationCatholic
WebsiteSacred Heart Cathedral
History
Former name(s)St Mary's Cathedral
Founded1850, 1901
Founder(s)Philippe Viard, 1st Bishop of Wellington
Dedication1850, 1901
Consecrated1984[1]
Architecture
Heritage designationCategory I (2 April 1985)
Architect(s)Francis Petre
Architectural typePalladian revival
Completed1901
Administration
ArchdioceseWellington
ParishSacred Heart Cathedral Parish
Clergy
ArchbishopArchbishop John Atcherley Dew, 6th Archbishop of Wellington (2005-present)
Priest in chargeFr James Lyons (Cathedral Administrator and Parish Priest)
Laity
Director of musicMr Michael Fletcher
Parish administratorMr Frank Doherty

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. The church was popularly known as "the basilica", because of its palladian architectural style. (It has not been declared a minor basilica by the Vatican[2]).) It was designated as the Cathedral of Wellington in 1983 after earthquake strengthening and the addition of the Blessed Sacrament chapel, foyer, sacristy, courtyard, hall (called Connolly Hall) and piazza.

Mass times

The normal Mass times are:

  • Weekdays: 8.00am and 12.10pm
  • Saturday: 8.30am and (Vigil Mass for Sunday) 5.30pm.
  • Sunday: 10.30am and 7.00pm[3]

Music

Choirs and ensembles

Sacred Heart Cathedral has a strong music tradition. At present there are two instrumental (piano, guitars, organ) and vocal ensembles to lead congregational hymn-singing for at least one Sunday Mass each week.

Currently there are two choirs. The adult choir is made up of a dedicated group of mostly young singers. This choir sings most Sundays at the Cathedral at the 10.30am Mass as well as at concerts and special services. While firmly based on Gregorian chant, the choir sings a wide repertoire range from Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Tomás Luis de Victoria, Thomas Tallis and William Byrd to George Frideric Handel, Herbert Howells, Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Gabriel Fauré, Maurice Duruflé, Ildebrando Pizzetti, Morten Lauridsen, James MacMillan and many other composers including occasional commissioned contemporary works.

The boys' choir is made up of about 15 boys from Sacred Heart Cathedral School. Each boy receives a scholarship which pays for weekly individual vocal tuition and theory lessons. The boys sing Vespers every Wednesday (5.30pm) and Choral Mass every second Sunday of the month (10.30am) during school term time.[4]

State funerals and episcopal anniversary

The Cathedral choir played a prominent role in two important state funerals and an anniversary held in the Cathedral.

Sir Joseph Ward, the 17th Prime Minister, died in July 1930.[5] Ward had prayed daily in the basilica for all of his thirty-seven years in Parliament. The requiem mass was celebrated on 9 July by Bishop O'Shea, and Archbishop Redwood, the 1st Archbishop of Wellington, (in the words of the NZ Herald) "unbent beneath the weight of his 91 years ... in his scarlet vestment, was a commanding and impressive figure", delivered thepanagyric. After the Mass, Ward's casket lay in the basilica where a steady stream of people came and went during the day. It was then transferred across the road to Parliament Buildings by his colleagues and family before being transported to Bluff where he was buried. [5]

Michael Joseph Savage, the 23rd, and 1st Labour, Prime Minister on New Zealand, died on 27 March 1940.[6] His funeral gave the Cathedral choir a chance to achieve national recognition, as it was broadcast nationally. The crowd was so great in the church - even the organist needed an official invitation - that the boys in the choir were forced to sing from the chancel galleries high above the altar.[7]

Another great choir occasion occurred earlier, in 1934, for the 60th episcopal anniversary of Archbishop Redwood himself, when "the special music of the Mass was rendered by the Basilica choir of fifty voices under the conductorship of Miss Eileen Dennehy. Miss Josephine Milligan was at the organ. The music of the Mass was as follows: 'Ecce Sacerdos' (Elgar), Edouard Silas' Mass in C, 'O Sacrum Convivium', and 'Jubilate Deo' ... the plain chant was sung by the male voices of the choir, under the baton of Rev. Father Feehly."[8]

Palladian basilica

Main article: Francis Petre § 1901 Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, Wellington

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.[9]

Maison Carrée, Nimes, front view

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.[10]

Designed by architect Francis Petre, Sacred Heart was built on a classical basilican plan, with ionic columns of Oamaru stone and a high pediment. However, its proportions and frontage closely reflect those of a Roman or Greek temple, and, in that respect, its most obvious model is the Maison Carrée in Nimes. 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.[10] The Cathedral is largely built of Oamaru limestone with brick facings. To strengthen the building against earthquakes, concrete piers and steel beams were incorporated in the fabric of the building in 1983. The Blessed Sacrament chapel, the foyer entrance and the adjoining Connolly Hall were added to the Cathedral in 1984, They are mainly constructed in concrete.[11] At the same time a large square or piazza was constructed at the east end of the Cathedral and this is used for processions and gathering space, especially on Palm Sunday and at Easter.

Interior features

Tomb

In the South Aisle are two memorial tablets (one in English, the other in Latin) relating to Bishop Viard, the first Bishop of Wellington, who is buried in the Cathedral.[11]

Blessed Sacrament Chapel

The Blessed Sacrament Chapel can accommodate about 60 worshippers. The chapel houses five examples of fine English Victorian stained glass from the studios of the Atkinson Brothers of five different saints. They are a unique collection as no other building in the world contains more than two from these same workshops. The modern glass above the chapel doors was designed and fabricated by Graham Stewart of Christchurch. There is also a fine icon of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and St Mary his mother by contemporary iconographer, Michael Galovic (installed in 2007). At the west end of the chapel is a small safe where the holy oils are kept. the door was once part of the tabernacle of the high Altar of St Mary's Cathedral.[11]

Sculpture

Inside the Cathedral at the entrance are small statues of the Four Evangelists. These originally stood under the first High Altar of the present cathedral. Near the sanctuary is a statue of St Brigid patron of the Cathedral Parish Mass Centre in Wadestown, which was closed in 2007. Behind the cathedra in the sanctuary is a bronze and enamelled Processional Cross designed and made by Graham Stewart for the visit of Pope John Paul II to Wellington in 1986. The sanctuary contains some important mosaics. Beneath the Stations of the Cross, is a set of fourteen bronzes, Mater Dolorosa, designed by Wellington sculptor, Eve Black, depicting Mary's sorrow as she witnessed her son's journey to the Cross and Grave.[11]

Blessed Virgin Mary

In the cloister courtyard beside the foyer entrance of the Cathedral stands the metal statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary that was originally lodged high up on the east side of the tower of the original cathedral, St Mary's Cathedral. The statue fell some 80 feet during the 1896 fire, and as it came close to the ground it was said to hover, settling gently, completely undamaged, on the ground.[11]

Kohatu whakairo and Pou

Amongst the treasures of the Cathedral are a kohatu whakairo (thinking stone - a carved rock of Oamaru stone) situated inside the Cathedral entrance and a pou (a carved wooden pole) in the piazza in front of the Cathedral. These taonga were gifts from Catholic Māori of the Archdiocese and were installed in 1989.[12] They were carved by Porirua master carver Lou Kereopa.[11]

See also

References

  1. ^ Dan Kelly, p. 155.
  2. ^ Minor basilicas in the world.
  3. ^ Archdiocese of Wellington, Cathedral Parish - Sacred Heart (Retrieved 17 August 2014)
  4. ^ Programme Notes, Noel: A concert of Advent and Christmas music, Sacred Heart Cathedral, Wellington, 5 December 2012.
  5. ^ a b Michael Bassett, Sir Joseph Ward: A political biography, Auckland University Press, 1993, pp. 283 and 284.
  6. ^ Barry Gustafson, From the Cradle to the Grave: A biography of Michael Joseph Savage, Reed Methuen, Auckland, 1986, p. 271.
  7. ^ Dan Kelly, pp. 140 and 141.
  8. ^ "Pictorial Record & Narrative of the Episcopal Jubilee" Catholic News, Wellington, May 1934, quoted by Dan Kelly, p. 129
  9. ^ Dan Kelly, pp. 75-78.
  10. ^ a b New Zealand Historic Places Trust, Sacred Heart Cathedral, Wellington (Retrieved 17 August 2014)
  11. ^ a b c d e f Metropolitan Cathedral of the Sacred Heart and St Mary His Mother, Hill St, Thorndon, Wellington: A Short Guide, Sacred Heart Cathedral Parish, Thorndon, 2011(?)
  12. ^ ”Unique gift to cathedral”, Zealandia, 22 January 1989, p. 1.

Main sources

  • Sacred Heart Cathedral, Wellington
  • "Cathedral of the Sacred Heart (Catholic)". New Zealand Heritage List/Rārangi Kōrero. Heritage New Zealand. 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.
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