The Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is a

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

and

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

located in

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...

, United States. It is the seat of the Catholic Diocese of Knoxville. The original cathedral church was completed in 1956 and the present church was completed in 2018.

History

Sacred Heart Parish

Sacred Heart Parish can trace its history back to 1952 when Bishop William Adrian of

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

; the Rev. Joseph P. Follman, V.F., Dean of East Tennessee; and the Rev. Christopher P. Murray, Pastor of the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Knoxville determined that Knoxville needed a third Catholic parish. Land was purchased in Bearden the following year for $25,000. The Rev. Edward Dolan replaced Father Murray as Immaculate Conception's pastor in 1955. He started to negotiate with Baumann and Baumann Architects and Emory and Richards General Contractors to build a church, school, rectory, and convent for $1 million. The parish was officially established on January 1, 1956, with 199 families. Father Dolan was appointed the parish's first pastor and served the parish until 1972. He initially made his residence in one of the finished rooms of the school building on July 18, 1956. Sacred Heart School opened on September 4, 1956, with an enrollment of 132 students and 5 faculty members. The rectory was completed in November of the same year. The first Mass celebrated in the new church was Midnight Mass on Christmas, 1956. The Rev. Joseph Julius served Sacred Heart as pastor from 1972 to 1981. The parish had grown to over 1,000 families by this time. A gymnasium, new classrooms in the school and a school library were built during this time. St. John Neumann Parish was established in Farragut and took some parishioners from Sacred Heart. Further expansion of the physical plant was accomplished during the Rev. Robert Hofstetter's pastorate from 1981 until 1987. Additions included kindergarten, science labs, computer labs, an art department, and other modifications.

Sacred Heart Cathedral

The Rev. Xavier Mankel was named pastor in 1987. The following year on May 27

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

established the Diocese of Knoxville and Sacred Heart became the new diocese's cathedral. All Saints Parish, which included parts of Sacred Heart, was established in September 1994. The Rev. Al Humbrecht was named pastor in 1997. In 1999 he was named the

Diocesan Administrator A diocesan administrator (also known as archdiocesan administrator, archiepiscopal administrator and eparchial administrator for the case, respectively, of an archdiocese, archeparchy, and eparchy) is a provisional ordinary of a Catholic partic ...

after Bishop

Anthony O'Connell Anthony J. O'Connell (May 10, 1938 – May 4, 2012) was an Irish-born prelate of the Roman Catholic church. He served as the first of the Diocese of Knoxville in Tennessee from 1988 to 1998. He later served as the third bishop of the Dio ...

was transferred to the Diocese of Palm Beach. The Rev. David Boettner was named the pastor and cathedral rector in 2010. At the time there were 1,411 families in the parish The parish community has grown to 1,600 families as of June 2016. Sacred Heart Cathedral School enrollment averages 700 Preschool through 8th-grade students yearly.

Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

The new Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus was built in front of the older church. The architect of record is the Knoxville architectural firm of

BarberMcMurry BarberMcMurry, formerly Barber & McMurry, is an architecture firm based in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. Founded in 1915 by Charles I. Barber, Charles Irving Barber (1887–1962) and Benjamin Franklin McMurry, Sr. (1885–1969), the firm ...

and the design architecture firm is McCrery Architect
Official website
with the ecclesiastical architect James McCrery located in Washington, D.C. Groundbreaking was held on April 19, 2015. It was built by Merit Construction of Knoxville. Dedication for the $30.8 million structure was held on March 3, 2018. Seating capacity was increased from 580 in the old cathedral to 1,358 and it increased the worship space from to . The central dome, inspired by the

Florence Cathedral Florence Cathedral (), formally the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flower ( ), is the cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of Florence in Florence, Italy. Commenced in 1296 in the Gothic style to a design of Arnolfo di Cambio and completed b ...

, rises to a height of above the ground. The dome's interior features images of the

Sacred Heart of Jesus The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus () is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus Christ is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This devotion to Christ is p ...

and his

Twelve Apostles In Christian theology and ecclesiology, the apostles, particularly the Twelve Apostles (also known as the Twelve Disciples or simply the Twelve), were the primary disciples of Jesus according to the New Testament. During the life and minist ...

. Other saints are depicted below. The exterior of the cruciform structure is clad in Indiana limestone and Roman-style bricks from

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

. Seventeen types of marble were used in the interior. The former cathedral was converted into the parish fellowship hall.

References

External links