The Concatedral Dulce Nombre de Jesús or in English, Co-Cathedral of the Sweet Name of Jesus, is a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...

located on the town plaza in

Humacao, Puerto Rico Humacao () is a city and municipality in Puerto Rico located in the eastern coast of the island, north of Yabucoa; south of Naguabo; east of Las Piedras; and west of Vieques Passage. Humacao is spread over 12 barrios and Humacao Pueblo (the ...

. Along with the Catedral Santiago Apóstol in

Fajardo Fajardo (, ) is a town and municipality -Fajardo Combined Statistical Area. Fajardo is the hub of much of the recreational boating in Puerto Rico and a popular launching port to Culebra, Vieques, and the U.S. and British Virgin Islands. It is ...

it is the seat of the Diocese of Fajardo-Humacao.

History

The first church for the parish of Dulce Nombre de Jesús was a simple structure built in 1769. A second church was built from 1825 to 1826. It was in a ruinous state by 1860 and the present church was built between 1868 and 1877. It was designed by Don Evaristo de Churruca in the Gothic Revival style. The bell tower collapsed as the result of an earthquake in 1918. The church was repaired in 1928 and another renovation took place in the 1980s. Dulce Nombre de Jesύs became a cathedral church when

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the soverei ...

established the Diocese of Fajardo-Humacao on March 11, 2008. The church was listed on the U.S.

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1984, using the name style ''Church Dulce Nombre de Jesús of Humacao''..

Architecture

The cathedral is on the east side of the town plaza. A low concrete wall with metal grillwork surrounds the church building. The wall is modulated by pillars that hold cast iron lamps. The building is cruciform in shape with a

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building wi ...

and two side aisles. It is one of the few churches in Puerto Rico with a transept. The main

façade A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loan word from the French (), which means ' frontage' or ' face'. In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important aspect ...

is dominated by a four-level square bell tower topped with a

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires a ...

. It is flanked by two smaller round towers that house a spiral staircase and the weights for the clock. All the windows and doorways are framed with moldings. Small

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral ( ...

es flank pointed arch windows on the sides of the building. The two-level transept is crowned with a

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

d roof. Each side has two pointed-arch windows on the first level and round window in the second. On the interior horizontal moldings have been eliminated to give the illusion of a taller structure. Pillars separate the nave from the side aisles and they are assembled into five bays on each side. The main nave is covered by a pointed vault and the side naves are covered by

groin vault A groin vault or groined vault (also sometimes known as a double barrel vault or cross vault) is produced by the intersection at right angles of two barrel vaults. Honour, H. and J. Fleming, (2009) ''A World History of Art''. 7th edn. London: Lau ...

s. Four pairs of small pointed arch windows are above the side aisles. There is a dome over the crossing, but it is covered by acoustic tiles and cannot be seen. The

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an '' exedra''. ...

is covered by a groined half-dome and contains stained glass windows. The floor is covered with colored native cement tiles and a new choir loft is in the rear of the church.

Gallery

File:Vista desde la entrada principal del monumento.jpg, Interior File:Church Dulce Nombre de Jesús of Humacao, Puerto Rico.jpg, Church Dulce Nombre de Jesús of Humacao in 2020 File:Humacao, Puerto Rico church.JPG, The church in 2007, the year before it became a cathedral

References

External links

*
Roman Catholic Diocese of Fajardo-Humacao
(Official Site in Spanish)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Concatedral Dulce Nombre de Jesus (Humacao, Puerto Rico) Dulce Nombre de Jesus Humacao, Puerto Rico 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Puerto Rico Religious organizations established in 1869 Roman Catholic churches completed in 1869 1869 establishments in Puerto Rico Gothic Revival church buildings in Puerto Rico

History

Architecture

Gallery

See also

References

External links