The Metropolitan Cathedral of the Sacred Heart and of Saint Mary His Mother, better known as Sacred Heart 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 let ...

cathedral on Hill Street,

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

, New Zealand. It is the parish church of the Thorndon Catholic parish (founded 1850) and the cathedral of the

Archbishop of Wellington The Catholic Archdiocese of Wellington is the Latin Church metropolitan archdiocese of New Zealand. Catholics number about 83,214 (2006 census). Parishes number 22 and the archdiocese extends over central New Zealand between Levin and Masterton i ...

. The

New Zealand Parliament The New Zealand Parliament ( mi, Pāremata Aotearoa) is the unicameral legislature of New Zealand, consisting of the King of New Zealand (King-in-Parliament) and the New Zealand House of Representatives. The King is usually represented by hi ...

is a close neighbour of the cathedral. However, the Thorndon Catholic parish predates that institution. The cathedral is part of a Catholic precinct which includes St Mary's College; Sacred Heart Cathedral School; St Mary's Convent, the motherhouse of the Sisters of Mercy in Wellington; the Catholic Centre, in which Catholic administration is located; and Viard House, which is both the cathedral parish presbytery and the residence of the archbishop. The church was popularly known as "the Basilica", because of its

palladian Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...

architectural style. It was designated as the cathedral of Wellington in 1984 after earthquake strengthening and the addition of the Blessed Sacrament chapel, foyer, sacristy, courtyard, hall (called Connolly Hall) and piazza. The parish of Thorndon was administered by the Society of Mary (Marist Fathers) for eighty-five years until 1935, although secular or diocesan clergy were also stationed there. The founder of the see, Bishop Viard, and the first two archbishops, Redwood and O'Shea, were also members of the Society of Mary. Since 1954 all the archbishops and the resident clergy of the cathedral have been secular clergy. Thorndon has always been the residence of the archbishops of Wellington except for the period 1935–1954 when Archbishop O'Shea continued to live at Paterson St, Mt Victoria which was his address as coadjutor. On 13 July 2018, the main cathedral building was closed for seismic strengthening, with services continuing in the cathedral chapel or at St Thomas Moore Church, Wilton.Tom Hunt, "Wellington's Sacred Heart Cathedral closes after being deemed a significant quake risk", ''Stuff News'', 14 July 2018
(Retrieved 18 July 2018)''The Cathedral Connection'', Vol 8 Issue 28, 4 August 2019, p. 3. The strengthening of the cathedral is expected to be completed in 2023 to a high standard.

Sacraments

The normal Mass times are: * Weekdays: 8.00am and 12.10pm * Saturday: 8.30am and (Anticipated Mass for Sunday) 5.30 pm * Sunday: 10.30am (choral) and 7.00pm. On or near 8 December each year (the feast of the

Immaculate Conception The Immaculate Conception is the belief that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception. It is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church, meaning that it is held to be a divinely revealed truth w ...

) there is celebrated a special Mass to renew the 1855 consecration of Wellington to Our Lady under that title and to protect the city from earthquakes. Because of the closure of the cathedral for seismic strengthening, the 5.30pm Saturday and the 10.30am Sunday Masses are celebrated at St Thomas More Church. The weekday Masses, the 8.30am Saturday Mass and the 7.00pm Sunday Mass are celebrated in the Blessed Sacrament chapel of the cathedral.

Music

Choral

Sacred Heart Cathedral has a strong music tradition."Music at the Cathedral", ''Sacred Heart Cathedral''
(Retrieved 26 November 2014) There are two instrumental (piano, guitars, organ) and vocal ensembles to lead congregational hymn-singing for at least one Sunday Mass each week.Programme Notes, ''Noel: A concert of Advent and Christmas music'', Sacred Heart Cathedral, Wellington, 5 December 2012. There are normally two traditional choirs. The cathedral choir was made up of a dedicated group of trained singers. This choir sang on most Sundays at the cathedral at the 10.30am Mass as well as at concerts and special services. While firmly based on

Gregorian chant Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainsong, plainchant, a form of monophony, monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek (language), Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed ma ...

, the choir sang (accompanied by one of the organs or the Cathedral Orchestra when that was appropriate) a wide repertoire ranging from

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina ( – 2 February 1594) was an Italian composer of late Renaissance music. The central representative of the Roman School, with Orlande de Lassus and Tomás Luis de Victoria, Palestrina is considered the leading ...

Tomás Luis de Victoria Tomás Luis de Victoria (sometimes Italianised as ''da Vittoria''; ) was the most famous Spanish composer of the Renaissance. He stands with Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and Orlande de Lassus as among the principal composers of the late Ren ...

Thomas Tallis Thomas Tallis (23 November 1585; also Tallys or Talles) was an English composer of High Renaissance music. His compositions are primarily vocal, and he occupies a primary place in anthologies of English choral music. Tallis is considered one ...

and

William Byrd William Byrd (; 4 July 1623) was an English composer of late Renaissance music. Considered among the greatest composers of the Renaissance, he had a profound influence on composers both from his native England and those on the continent. He ...

to George Frideric Handel,

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wo ...

Samuel Sebastian Wesley Samuel Sebastian Wesley (14 August 1810 – 19 April 1876) was an English organist and composer. Wesley married Mary Anne Merewether and had 6 children. He is often referred to as S.S. Wesley to avoid confusion with his father Samuel Wesley. Bio ...

, Anton Bruckner, Gabriel Fauré,

Herbert Howells Herbert Norman Howells (17 October 1892 – 23 February 1983) was an English composer, organist, and teacher, most famous for his large output of Anglican church music. Life Background and early education Howells was born in Lydney, Gloucest ...

Maurice Duruflé Maurice Gustave Duruflé (; 11 January 1902 – 16 June 1986) was a French composer, organist, musicologist, and teacher. Life and career Duruflé was born in Louviers, Eure in 1902. He became a chorister at the Rouen Cathedral Choir School fr ...

Ildebrando Pizzetti Ildebrando Pizzetti (20 September 1880 – 13 February 1968) was an Italian composer of classical music, musicologist, and music critic. Biography Pizzetti was born in Parma in 1880. He was part of the "Generation of 1880" along with Ottorino ...

Morten Lauridsen Morten Johannes Lauridsen (born February 27, 1943) is an American composer. A National Medal of Arts recipient (2007), he was composer-in-residence of the Los Angeles Master Chorale from 1994 to 2001, and is the Distinguished Professor Emeritus ...

James MacMillan Sir James Loy MacMillan, (born 16 July 1959) is a Scottish classical composer and conductor. Early life MacMillan was born at Kilwinning, in North Ayrshire, but lived in the East Ayrshire town of Cumnock until 1977. His father is James MacMi ...

, Douglas Mews,

Eric Whitacre Eric Edward Whitacre (born January2, 1970) is an American composer, conductor, and speaker best known for his choral music. In March2016, he was appointed as Los Angeles Master Chorale's first artist-in-residence at the Walt Disney Concert Hall ...

Ola Gjeilo Ola Gjeilo ( , ; born May 5, 1978) is a Norwegian composer and pianist, living in the United States. The boys' choir was made up of about 15 boys from the neighbouring Sacred Heart Cathedral School. Each boy received a scholarship which paid for weekly individual vocal tuition and theory lessons. The boys sang an occasional Choral Mass during school term. The Cathedral Grand Organ was situated in the

choir loft A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...

and the console in the

whispering gallery The Whispering Gallery of St Paul's Cathedral, London A whispering gallery is usually a circular, hemispherical, elliptical or ellipsoidal enclosure, often beneath a dome or a vault, in which whispers can be heard clearly in other parts of t ...

. It was designed and built by Arthur Hobday in 1905 and had been revised and enlarged since with the changing needs of the cathedral. Sacred Heart Cathedral was also a well-used concert venue (500 people can be seated) for outside orchestras and performance groups because of the building's size and its fine "warm" acoustics. With the closure of the cathedral for seismic strengthening in 2018, the organ was removed in 2020 for reconstruction. The cathedral choir and the boy's choir operated for a two-year period in other locations but both went into abeyance in March 2021 when the post of Sacred Heart Cathedral Director of Music was abolished. The situation will be reviewed when the restoration of the cathedral is completed and all the parish masses are resumed there.

Historic ceremonies

The cathedral choir plays a prominent role in liturgical ceremonies in the cathedral. Its role in two important state funerals and an episcopal anniversary was of particular note. Sir Joseph Ward, the 17th Prime Minister of New Zealand, died in July 1930.Michael Bassett, ''Sir Joseph Ward: A political biography'', Auckland University Press, 1993, pp. 283 and 284. Ward had prayed daily in the Basilica (or its predecessor, St Mary's Cathedral – see below) for all of his thirty-seven years as a member of the

. The

Requiem Mass A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead ( la, Missa pro defunctis) or Mass of the dead ( la, Missa defunctorum), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, ...

was celebrated on 9 July by Bishop O'Shea (then Coadjutor Archbishop of Wellington), and Archbishop Redwood, the 1st Archbishop of Wellington, delivered the panagyric. In the words of ''

The New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation of all newspaper ...

'', "unbent beneath the weight of his 91 years ... in his scarlet vestment, rchbishop Redwoodwas a commanding and impressive figure." 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 Bluff or The Bluff may refer to: Places Australia * Bluff, Queensland, Australia, a town * The Bluff, Queensland (Ipswich), a rural locality in the city of Ipswich * The Bluff, Queensland (Toowoomba Region), a rural locality * Bluff River (New ...

where the interment took place.

Michael Joseph Savage Michael Joseph Savage (23 March 1872 – 27 March 1940) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 23rd prime minister of New Zealand, heading the First Labour Government from 1935 until his death in 1940. Savage was born in the Colon ...

, the 23rd, and 1st Labour, Prime Minister of New Zealand, died on 27 March 1940. His funeral gave the cathedral choir a chance to achieve national recognition, as it was broadcast nationally. The organist was Miss Josephine Mulligan whose contributions included Frédéric Chopin's '' Marche Funebre'' at the commencement. The choir consisted of male voices conducted by Rev Father FH Walsh. ''The Dominion'' thought that "it was appropriate because of the interest of the late Prime Minister in young people that boys figured largely in the singing of the Mass" which was entirely sung in plain song. 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 In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ov ...

galleries high above the altar. The solemn requiem was celebrated by Archbishop O'Shea who in his sermon preached that Savage's life "was a rebuke to all who would seek to advance their interests, whether personal or class, at the expense of social amity and concord" and that Savage would "not leave a single enemy among decent men." Savage's remains were transported to Auckland in a rail journey much interrupted by crowds of mourners along the way. After resting briefly in St Patrick's Cathedral, he was buried at Bastion Point (where the Savage Memorial was eventually constructed). 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 Mulligan was at the organ. The music of the Mass was as follows: 'Ecce Sacerdos' (

Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...

), Edouard Silas' Mass in C, 'O Sacrum Convivium', and 'Jubilate Deo' ... the plain song was sung by the male voices of the choir, under the baton of Rev. Father Feehly."

Basilica

The first church to be built on the Hill Street site was the wooden, neo-Gothic, St Mary's Cathedral, blessed and opened in 1851. It was gutted by fire on 28 November 1898, during repainting. It was decided that a new cathedral should be erected near Mt Victoria and a parish church built on the site of the old cathedral. However, the new church, called the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, was intended as a substantial building. Its foundation stone was laid in 1899 and the building blessed and opened two years later. The money to build Sacred Heart was partly taken from the fund for the new cathedral; the new cathedral was never actually built. It was not until 1984 that the Basilica was elevated to the status of a cathedral, and on 18 March 1984 the cathedral was consecrated by Cardinal Thomas Williams, the fifth Archbishop of Wellington. In 1985, the building was listed as a Category 1 Historic Place.New Zealand Historic Places Trust, Sacred Heart Cathedral, Wellington
(Retrieved 17 August 2014) Wellington Catholic Cathedral (4485154730)

Wellington Catholic Cathedral (4485154730)

The cathedral is largely built of

Oamaru limestone Oamaru stone, sometimes called whitestone, is a hard, compact limestone, quarried at Weston, near Oamaru in Otago, New Zealand. Oamaru stone was used on many of the grand public buildings in the towns and cities of the southern South Island, es ...

with brick facings. Designed by architect

Francis Petre Francis William Petre (27 August 1847 – 10 December 1918), sometimes known as Frank Petre, was a New Zealand-born architect based in Dunedin. He was an able exponent of the Gothic revival style, one of its best practitioners in New Zea ...

, with an axis of east–west rather than the west–east of its predecessor, Sacred Heart was built on a classical

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's Forum (Roman), forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building ...

n plan. However, its portico of

Ionic column The Ionic order is one of the three canonic orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric and the Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan (a plainer Doric), and the rich variant of Corinthian called the composite ...

s of

Oamaru stone Oamaru stone, sometimes called whitestone, is a hard, compact limestone, quarried at Weston, near Oamaru in Otago, New Zealand. Oamaru stone was used on many of the grand public buildings in the towns and cities of the southern South Island, e ...

, whose

pedestal A pedestal (from French ''piédestal'', Italian ''piedistallo'' 'foot of a stall') or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In ...

s rest on elongated

plinth A pedestal (from French ''piédestal'', Italian ''piedistallo'' 'foot of a stall') or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In ...

s, and a high

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedim ...

closely reflect those of a Roman or Greek temple, and, in that respect, its most obvious model is the

Maison Carrée Maison (French for "house") may refer to: People * Edna Maison (1892–1946), American silent-film actress * Jérémy Maison (born 1993), French cyclist * Leonard Maison, New York state senator 1834–1837 * Nicolas Joseph Maison (1771–1840), Ma ...

, Nimes, which has full-length,

Corinthian Corinthian or Corinthians may refer to: *Several Pauline epistles, books of the New Testament of the Bible: **First Epistle to the Corinthians **Second Epistle to the Corinthians **Third Epistle to the Corinthians (Orthodox) *A demonym relating to ...

, columns. The building is within the classical proportions and forms a parallelogram (accommodating a clerestory with rows of arch-topped windows) of about 42 metres by 19 metres by a height of 18 metres. The main entrance is reached by means of a flight of seven steps. Out of the portico are three pairs of folding doors. The main pair in the centre give entrance directly to the church (originally, through a vestibule).Dan Kelly, p. 83, quoting ''The Tablet'', 7 February 1901. The

frieze In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...

of the cathedral pediment carries the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

inscription in gold letters: ''S.S. Cordi Jesu Dedicatum. A.D. MCMI'' which may be translated as "Dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. A.D. 1901." The interior features a main aisle and two side aisles, a large arcaded

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 ...

and a large arch forming the entrance to the

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a sa ...

. Walls are built in a succession of arches surmounted by a cornice of stone which forms part of the roof. Series of stone pilasters are ranged against the walls and on the sides of piers. The pilasters in the sanctuary form, with two free-standing columns supporting the cornice, a pleasing assemblage. Their capitals all continue the Ionic theme of the portico. 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.''Metropolitan Cathedral of the Sacred Heart and St Mary His Mother, Hill St, Thorndon, Wellington: A Short Guide'', Sacred Heart Cathedral Parish, Thorndon, 2011(?) At the same time a large square or

piazza A town square (or square, plaza, public square, city square, urban square, or ''piazza'') is an open public space, commonly found in the heart of a traditional town but not necessarily a true geometric square, used for community gatherings. ...

was constructed at the east end of the cathedral and this is used for processions and gathering space, especially on

Palm Sunday Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in each of the four canonical Gospels. Palm Sunday marks the first day of Hol ...

, during

Holy Week Holy Week ( la, Hebdomada Sancta or , ; grc, Ἁγία καὶ Μεγάλη Ἑβδομάς, translit=Hagia kai Megale Hebdomas, lit=Holy and Great Week) is the most sacred week in the liturgical year in Christianity. In Eastern Churches, w ...

, and at Easter for the Service of the light and the candle-lit procession before the Easter Vigil Mass. For a period Sacred Heart looked even more palladian when it had twin bell towers topped with domes. These towers (not designed by Francis Petre) were incorporated in the original design but were removed in 1942, following an earthquake.

Features

Wellington Catholic Cathedral (4484504355)

Sacred Heart

The sanctuary is dominated by a large painting of the

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

by Enrico Refto above the cathedra of the archbishop. At the top of the westernmost arch of the cathedral, above the sanctuary, is a large, sculpted, Oamaru stone

emblem An emblem is an abstract or representational pictorial image that represents a concept, like a moral truth, or an allegory, or a person, like a king or saint. Emblems vs. symbols Although the words ''emblem'' and '' symbol'' are often us ...

of the Sacred Heart.

Pulpit

The beautiful and ample pulpit just outside the sanctuary beside the northern aisle is still in use. It was installed in 1908 to commemorate the first parish priest of the new Basilica, Father W J Lewis SM, who died in 1907. He had been parish priest when the Basilica was being built. The pulpit was paid for by his fellow priests and records their sorrow at his demise. There was a memorial plaque which listed the details of Father Lewis' life on the adjoining pillar. This was removed to make way for one of the memorial crosses which signify the consecration of the church in 1984. The plaque may now be found at the top of the southern aisle of the cathedral. The names of all the bishops and archbishops in Wellington have recently been inscribed on the panels of the pulpit although the original dedication by the priests to the memory of Father Lewis remains recorded at the base of the structure.

Viard memorial

On a

pier Seaside pleasure pier in Brighton, England. The first seaside piers were built in England in the early 19th century.">England.html" ;"title="Brighton, England">Brighton, England. The first seaside piers were built in England in the early 19th ...

beside the South Aisle are three memorial tablets (one in English and two in Latin) relating to Bishop Viard, the first Bishop of Wellington, who died in 1872 and is buried in the cathedral. He was originally buried in the old St Mary's Cathedral in a brick vault at the foot of Our Lady's Altar. His tomb in the present cathedral is approximately on the Hill St side of the baptismal font at the cross-aisle (see photograph to the right). Four years later, the first parish priest of Thorndon, Father Jean Baptist Petitjean, who had arrived in Wellington with Bishop Viard in 1850, died in front of the same altar at the tomb of his bishop. Father Petitjean is also commemorated in Sacred Heart.

Chapel

The Blessed Sacrament Chapel, built to the north, at right angles to the main axis of the building, can accommodate about 60 worshippers. The chapel houses five examples of fine English Victorian stained glass from the studios of the Atkinson Brothers given by the parish of St Joseph, Mt Victoria. They were first placed in the original, octagonal, St Joseph's church in Buckle St in 1885. The central window is decorated with abstract designs. The other windows are of saints, two on each side. The saints are (on the left) Patrick and John and (on the right)

Francis Xavier Francis Xavier (born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta; Latin: ''Franciscus Xaverius''; Basque: ''Frantzisko Xabierkoa''; French: ''François Xavier''; Spanish: ''Francisco Javier''; Portuguese: ''Francisco Xavier''; 7 April 15063 December ...

(with the notable astronomer Father David Francis Kennedy SM memorialised on this window) and, on the far right, St Peter. The windows " ... 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)."Sacred Heart Cathedral: An oasis of peace open daily", Sacred Heart Parish, 2012. Statue, Sacred Heart Cathedral, Wellington

Statue, Sacred Heart Cathedral, Wellington

In the west wall of the chapel is a small space or

ambry An ambry (or ''almery'', ''aumbry''; from the medieval form ''almarium'', cf. Lat. ''armārium'', "a place for keeping tools"; cf. O. Fr. ''aumoire'' and mod. armoire) is a recessed cabinet in the wall of a Christian church for storing sacred vess ...

where the holy oils (called

chrism Chrism, also called myrrh, ''myron'', holy anointing oil, and consecrated oil, is a consecrated oil used in the Anglican, Assyrian, Catholic, Nordic Lutheran, Old Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Latter Day Saint churches in th ...

) are kept. The ambry is backed by a panel with a gold sculptured image of Christ on it. This panel was a door, once part of the

tabernacle According to the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle ( he, מִשְׁכַּן, mīškān, residence, dwelling place), also known as the Tent of the Congregation ( he, link=no, אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד, ’ōhel mō‘ēḏ, also Tent of Meeting, etc.), ...

of the

high altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paganis ...

of old St Mary's Cathedral. The front of the ambry has a wide red and yellow, glass, mosaic border (created by Con Kiernan) around the glassed-in space where can be seen the three glass, amphora-like, chrismaria containing the holy oils. These vessels and their contents are bathed in a somber green light.

Mary, mother of Jesus

In the

cloister A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against a ...

courtyard beside the foyer entrance of the cathedral stands the two-metre,

cast-iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...

statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, made in France ("with heavy Gilt") that was lodged, in honour of the

on 8 September 1867, high up on the east side of the tower of the original cathedral, St Mary's Cathedral, where it faced the harbour and its gilding reflected "the first rays of the rising sun." The statue was placed in the tower in memory of the consecration of the diocese in 1855 to the

, which Bishop Viard had carried out, after he had proclaimed the newly pronounced dogma, as a specific remedy against any recurrence of the series of severe earthquakes felt in the province of Wellington over several months in that year. Wellington Catholic Cathedral (4485155302)

Wellington Catholic Cathedral (4485155302)

The statue fell some 80 feet during the 1898 fire, crashing down from the tower. However it was later salvaged with minor damage. Some eyewitnesses attested that when the cathedral tower fell, the statue hung momentarily in mid air before descending slowly and gracefully and in an upright position to the ground where it landed completely undamaged. In 1984 the statue of Mary, now painted white except for the crown and girdle, was placed in the cloister courtyard to remain "the sign and warrant of her protection of the city."

Sculptures

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

is a statue of

St Brigid Saint Brigid of Kildare or Brigid of Ireland ( ga, Naomh Bríd; la, Brigida; 525) is the patroness saint (or 'mother saint') of Ireland, and one of its three national saints along with Patrick and Columba. According to medieval Irish hagiogra ...

, patron of St Brigid's Church, Wadestown, which was closed in 2007. Behind the cathedra in the sanctuary is a bronze and enamelled

processional cross A processional cross is a crucifix or cross which is carried in Christian processions. Such crosses have a long history: the Gregorian mission of Saint Augustine of Canterbury to England carried one before them "like a standard", according ...

designed and made by Graham Stewart for the visit of

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 ...

to Wellington in 1986. The sanctuary contains some important mosaics. Beneath the Stations of the Cross is a set of fourteen bronzes, ''

Mater Dolorosa Our Lady of Sorrows ( la, Beata Maria Virgo Perdolens), Our Lady of Dolours, the Sorrowful Mother or Mother of Sorrows ( la, Mater Dolorosa, link=no), and Our Lady of Piety, Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows or Our Lady of the Seven Dolours are names ...

'', designed by Wellington sculptor, Eve Black, depicting Mary's sorrow as she witnessed her son's journey to the Cross and Grave.

Taonga

Sacred Heart Catholic Cathedral Centre 2015

Amongst the

treasures A treasure is a concentration of riches. Treasure may also refer to: Literature * ''Treasure'' (Cussler novel), a 1988 novel by Clive Cussler * ''Treasure'' (magazine), a British periodical for children * '' Treasure: In Search of the Golden Ho ...

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. The

taonga ''Taonga'' or ''taoka'' (in South Island Māori) is a Maori-language word that refers to a treasured possession in Māori culture. It lacks a direct translation into English, making its use in the Treaty of Waitangi significant. The current d ...

were gifts from Catholic Māori of the archdiocese and were installed in 1989. They were carved by Porirua master carver Lou Kereopa. The kohato whakairo consists of several layers as follows. At the base, the solid foundation represents the faith given by

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

; above that, the essentials of that faith are then shown in panels on each of the four sides of the stone (the seven sacraments, the

Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments (Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ ...

, the crucified Saviour within the Holy Trinity, and the fourth panel is the cathedral itself represented by the initials "J" and "M" for Jesus and Mary with two hearts). The next layer shows on each panel four figures representing four aspects of faith from none to the full believing Christian (whose face is full on with a full

moko In the mythology of Mangaia in the Cook Islands, Moko is a wily character and grandfather of the heroic Ngaru. Moko is a ruler or king of the lizard Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging acro ...

). Together these four figures support the suffering world over which stands the church bearing Christ's light to the nations. This light is represented by a globe which is the world encircled by a

crown of thorns According to the New Testament, a woven crown of thorns ( or grc, ἀκάνθινος στέφανος, akanthinos stephanos, label=none) was placed on the head of Jesus during the events leading up to his crucifixion. It was one of the in ...

representing human suffering and disobedience, and the sacrifice of Jesus who gave his life that human beings may live and have eternal life. The structure is crowned by a church portraying the shelter and joyful hope that the

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

offers. The cross surmounting the kohatu whakairo symbolises all who follow the way of Jesus."Kohatu Whakairo (Thinking Stone)", Metropolitan Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, 2018, pp. 2 and 3.

Strengthening and fund-raising

Sacred Heart Cathedral was closed on Friday 13 July 2018, after the discovery that its structural integrity was 15 per cent of the standard for a new building and that it was therefore a significant risk to occupants in the event of an earthquake. The building must be strengthened to at least 33 percent of the New Building Standard (NBS) before it is reopened. The strengthening of the cathedral is expected to be completed in 2023 to a high standard (100% of the NBS) with base isolation.Kate Green, "$8.5m to strengthen cathedral", 'The Dominion Post', 24 July 2020, p. 5.

Notes

References

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External links

Sacred Heart Cathedral, Wellington

Sacred Heart Cathedral Strengthening Campaign
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Wellington City Council, Sacred Heart Cathedral
(retrieved 19 April 2018) {{DEFAULTSORT:Sacred Heart Cathedral, Wellington 1901 establishments in New Zealand 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in New Zealand Francis Petre church buildings Heritage New Zealand Category 1 historic places in the Wellington Region Roman Catholic cathedrals in New Zealand Roman Catholic churches in Wellington City Roman Catholic churches completed in 1901 Basilica churches in New Zealand Palladian Revival architecture Listed churches in New Zealand 1900s architecture in New Zealand Religious buildings and structures in Wellington City Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Wellington