Holy Redeemer Cathedral is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

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 denomination ...

in the city of

Belize City Belize City is the largest city in Belize and was once the capital of the former British Honduras. According to the 2010 census, Belize City has a population of 57,169 people in 16,162 households. It is at the mouth of the Haulover Creek, wh ...

Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wate ...

. It is canonically the mother church of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Belize City-Belmopan Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

. It shares the role with Our Lady of Guadalupe Co-Cathedral in

Belmopan Belmopan () is the capital city of Belize. Its population in 2010 was 16,451. In addition to being the smallest capital city in the continental Americas by population, Belmopan is the third-largest settlement in Belize, behind Belize City and S ...

, though the Bishop's offices remain at Holy Redeemer.

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

made the first Papal visit to Belize and visited the cathedral in 1983.

History

The present structure goes back to 1858 and is of brick, mostly salvaged from the ballast of sailing ships that transported logwood and mahogany back to England. In 1888 the side walls were moved out in line with the side

chapels A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common type ...

and bell towers, with high windows and a sacristy added. The church became a cathedral in 1894, with

Salvatore di Pietro Salvatore di Pietro, (15 June 1830 – 23 August 1898) was an Italian Bishop in the Catholic Church. He served as the first Vicar Apostolic of Belize from 1893-1898. He is widely regarded as the most important figure in consolidating the Catholic ...

the first bishop to reside in Belize. The building displayed its fully brick exterior until the 1920s, but has since been plastered over. The interior is entirely of mahogany but only the pews, high altar, and side altars retain their mahogany finish. The rest has been painted over. The disused choir loft once housed a pipe organ, destroyed by termites. After the 1961 hurricane the wooden floor was replaced with concrete and tile. The same storm destroyed many of the stained glass windows and a di Pietro memorial. Additions following Vatican II include the main altar facing the people and the tabernacle moved to a side altar, formerly Marian. The picture of

Our Lady of Guadalupe Our Lady of Guadalupe ( es, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe), also known as the Virgin of Guadalupe ( es, Virgen de Guadalupe), is a Catholic title of Mary, mother of Jesus associated with a series of five Marian apparitions, which are believed t ...

now occupies the other side altar formerly dedicated to

Saint Joseph Joseph (; el, Ἰωσήφ, translit=Ioséph) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who, according to the canonical Gospels, was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. The Gospels also name some brothers of ...

. Also added in the 1970s were a baptismal font and two figured mahogany lecterns. Two of the four corner confessionals in

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

style remain; the other two were ruined by termites and replaced with an Esquipula shrine and a replica of Michelangelo’s Pieta. The bishop’s throne and the communion rail were removed as part of the Vatican II reforms. Two iron Corinthian pillars have been added to the front portico. Three bishops are buried under the floor of the baptismal font: di Pietro,

Frederick C. Hopkins Frederick Charles Hopkins was an England, English Society of Jesus, Jesuit and Catholic bishop in British Honduras, Central America, at the turn of the 20th century. Missionary bishop Frederick C. Hopkins was born 12 December 1844 in Birmingham, ...

, and William A. Rice. The steeples of the twin towers have been battered over the years. The original Byzantine

onion dome An onion dome is a dome whose shape resembles an onion. Such domes are often larger in diameter than the tholobate upon which they sit, and their height usually exceeds their width. These bulbous structures taper smoothly to a point. It is a ty ...

s were changed in the early 1900s to soaring, pyramidal steeples (at left) demolished by the 1931 hurricane. Their shorter replacements were blown away in subsequent storms. The bells are in one tower; four peel for joyous events; three for funerals alternating with all four; two for church services; and one for the

Angelus The Angelus (; Latin for "angel") is a Catholic devotion commemorating the Incarnation of Christ. As with many Catholic prayers, the name ''Angelus'' is derived from its incipit—the first few words of the text: ("The Angel of the Lord ...

at 6:00 a.m., noon, and 6:00 p.m.Abstracted entirely from: Woods, Charles M. Sr., et al. ''Years of Grace: The History of Roman Catholic Evangelization in Belize: 1524-2014.'' (Belize: Roman Catholic Diocese of Belize City-Belmopan, 2015), pp. 77-79.

Gallery

File:ChrismRuben.jpg, Chrism Mass File:HRstreet2.png, 1931

References

* Catholic Bishops serving at Holy Redeemer Cathedral {{Coord, 17, 29, 46, N, 88, 11, 13, W, display=title Roman Catholic churches completed in 1858 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings Cathedrals in Belize Roman Catholic churches in Belize City Roman Catholic cathedrals in Belize