The Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart is a place of worship located at 1111 St. Joseph Parkway in downtown

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

. The co-cathedral seats 1,820 people in its sanctuary. Together with the venerable St. Mary's Cathedral Basilica in

Galveston Galveston ( ) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Ga ...

, Sacred Heart serves more than 1.2 million

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s in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston.

Establishment as a Co-Cathedral

In 1847, Pope Pius IX established the Diocese of Galveston for the 20,000 Catholics who lived in the new state of

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. This new

diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associa ...

covered an area as large as France and was served by one bishop and ten missionary priests. Construction of the second St. Mary's parish began in 1847 in

and in 1848 it was dedicated as St. Mary's Cathedral of the newly established diocese of Galveston. St. Mary's was the first catholic Cathedral in the state of Texas and for over 100 years it was the only cathedral in the Diocese of Galveston. Due to the tremendous growth in the city of

, in 1959, the Holy See permitted the Most Reverend Wendelin J. Nold, fifth bishop of the Galveston Diocese, to erect a cathedral of convenience in the city. Because of its central location, he chose Sacred Heart Church, built in 1911, to serve as co-cathedral and installed an episcopal chair. This did not change the status of the City of Galveston as an Episcopal see, however it did permit full pontifical ceremonies to be held in Houston, as well as Galveston. Both cathedrals are co-equal in rank; however, since St. Mary's is the original Cathedral for the State of Texas, it has the distinction of being the Mother Cathedral for all the Catholic dioceses in Texas. In 1979, in recognition of the Galveston Cathedral's importance to the community and state, as well as its historical role as the

mother church Mother church or matrice is a term depicting the Christian Church as a mother in her functions of nourishing and protecting the believer. It may also refer to the primary church of a Christian denomination or diocese, i.e. a cathedral or a metropo ...

for Catholicism in the state of Texas,

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 ...

elevated St. Mary's to the status of Cathedral

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 ...

History of Sacred Heart Parish

The third Bishop of Galveston, Nicholas A. Gallagher, established Sacred Heart

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

in downtown

as the fourth parish in the city on November 22, 1896, to serve the growing Catholic population. The Reverend Thomas Keaney, became the first pastor of Sacred Heart Church. On March 11, 1897, Keaney purchased property facing Pierce and Fannin Streets and architect Olle J. Lorehn drew plans for a gothic-style church. However, construction on Lorehn's design would not begin until 1911. To serve the congregation in the interim, a small church was built on the corner of Pierce and San Jacinto Streets. Bishop Gallagher laid the cornerstone for the temporary sanctuary on May 16, 1897, and dedicated it on November 6, 1897. On June 11, 1911, Bishop Gallagher laid the

cornerstone The cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure. Over tim ...

of the present Sacred Heart Church. The church was dedicated to God's service on April 14, 1912, at a final cost of $96,669. The new Sacred Heart Church accommodated 800 people, and was three stories. After the completion of the new Sacred Heart, the temporary church became the school building. Father Morgan J. Crow, the fourth pastor of Sacred Heart, constructed a two-story, brick rectory that was completed and occupied in 1920 to replace the wooden structure. In 1922, the original church building was demolished to make way for a new school building at a cost of $52,800. Monsignor Jerome A. Rapp, the fifth pastor of Sacred Heart (1927–1952), oversaw much of the interior decoration of the church including acquiring statuary. His successor, Monsignor John J. Roach, installed central heating and air-conditioning in 1953 and in 1954, expanded the parish footprint by acquiring adjacent property at Fannin and Calhoun Streets. With this purchase, the parish owned an entire city block. Monsignor Roach had the exteriors of the church and school refurbished in 1957, enlarged the sacristy and made other alterations in addition to constructing a new rectory. In 1964, he oversaw renovation of the interior of Sacred Heart. The final interior renovation of the Co-Cathedral was completed in 1990 with the rededication on March 25, 1990, by Bishop Joseph A. Fiorenza. Changes included a new episcopal chair and a total of three new mosaics that were designed and made in Italy. The first mosaic is of Christ the pantocrator above the episcopal chair represents

Jesus 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 religiou ...

as the shepherd and teacher of the church. The second mosaic is a Eucharistic symbol taken from the miracle of the multiplication of the five loaves and two fish. Above this mosaic is the Coat of Arms for the late Pope John Paul II. The third mosaic depicts a baptismal theme and the death and resurrection of Christ. The three mosaics were installed by Italo Botti of Chicago. Under Father Troy Gately, in December 2006, the Co-Cathedral parish purchased the former Federal Reserve Bank Building, adjacent to the new Co-Cathedral for $5 million, and named it Cathedral Centre. It will replace the 1922 Sacred Heart School building to house classrooms, offices, parish hall, youth rooms, child care center, music rooms, library, and a cafeteria. The parish is expected to spend another $2 million on renovations for the new Cathedral Centre.

Construction of the new Sacred Heart Co-Cathedral

By the 2000s, the archdiocese had long outgrown the 90-year-old Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart. Since it was constructed as a parish church, it had been enlarged over the years through a patchwork of renovations and additions and rather than make more costly additions, the Archdiocese decided to construct a new Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart. Ziegler Cooper Architects of Houston was selected to design and Linbeck Group was selected as general contractor. In the spring of 2002, design began for the new co-cathedral. Working with Joseph Fiorenza, then Bishop of Galveston-Houston, a model was constructed of the final design concept. Bishop Fiorenza took a picture of the co-cathedral model to the Vatican where he reportedly obtained approval of the design from

. On January 30, 2005, newly elevated Archbishop Fiorenza presided over a groundbreaking ceremony for the new co-cathedral and construction began shortly afterwards. The new Sacred Heart serves the archdiocese as both an ecclesiastical and

civic center A civic center or civic centre is a prominent land area within a community that is constructed to be its focal point or center. It usually contains one or more dominant public buildings, which may also include a government building. Recently, the ...

. The building footprint is occupying on a site of . The co-cathedral seats 1,820 with room for an additional 200 temporary chairs. The co-cathedral is designed in a simplified Italian Romanesque style with a cruciform shape. The exterior is clad in

Indiana Limestone Indiana limestone — also known as Bedford limestone in the building trade — has long been an economically important building material, particularly for monumental public structures. Indiana limestone is a more common term for Salem Limestone, ...

and the interior is accented with of marble. The shallow dome over the crossing extends to a height of over the -tall nave. The exterior dome is clad in copper and capped by a gilded crucifix while the interior features an occulus depicting the Holy Spirit in stained glass. The campanile is high. One hundred and eight stained glass panels and windows, including those in the Clerestory, were designed and constructed in

Florence, Italy Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

by Mellini Art Glass and Mosaics. Most Reverend Joseph A. Fiorenza, now

Archbishop Emeritus In the Catholic Church, a bishop is an ordained minister who holds the fullness of the sacrament of holy orders and is responsible for teaching doctrine, governing Catholics in his jurisdiction, sanctifying the world and representing the Chu ...

of the Galveston-Houston Archdiocese oversaw construction of the new co-cathedral. The existence of the Sacred Heart Co-Cathedral does not affect the status of St. Mary's Cathedral Basilica in Galveston. Both the cathedral and co-cathedral will continue to serve the needs of the citizens of the archdiocese. On April 2, 2008, the New Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart open its doors with a dedication Mass, attended by

Bishops A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

and

Cardinals Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

from across the

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and around the world. The new Co-Cathedral was dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus by Cardinal Daniel DiNardo Archbishop of Galveston-Houston and Archbishop Joseph A. Fiorenza. The final cost of the new Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart was

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

49,000,000.

Awards

Since construction of the Co-Cathedral was completed in April 2008, Linbeck Group (the General Contractor) has been awarded numerous accolades for its work on the project. The list of awards includes, the 2008 ASA Excellence in Construction Award, 2008 AGC Standard of Excellence Award, 2008 CSI Houston Craftsmanship Award, 2008 AGC Houston Apex Award, 2008 TBB AGC Outstanding Construction Award, 2008 Texas Construction Judges Award, 2008 McGraw-Hill Best of the Best Award and 2009 AGC Build America Award.

Future use of the old Sacred Heart Co-Cathedral

Shortly after the opening of the new structure, the archdiocese announced that the 1912 church building that served as the Co-Cathedral would be demolished and the site would become a parking lot for the new church. However, due to an outcry from parishioners and preservationists, the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston has sought ways to use the former church building. In 2004, Preservation Texas added Sacred Heart to the 2004 list of Texas' Most Endangered Historic Places. In addition, The Greater Houston Preservation Alliance (GHPA) a local organization in Houston did the same. The Archdiocese announced plans in late 2007 to demolish the 1922 Sacred Heart School building to provide parking for the new Co-Cathedral across San Jacinto Street. A master plan includes the eventual demolition of the former school building for a parking lot and the removal of the parking lot behind the old church to replace the asphalt parking lot with a landscaped park to be known as Cathedral Green. There are no current plans for the removal of the rectory or the old church building. However, it is possible that 1957 rectory and the 1912 Sacred Heart Church building may be saved. The Archdiocese at this point has not made a final decision on the future of the old Sacred Heart, but the final decision is in the hands of Cardinal DiNardo. The original sanctuary is no longer used for services. For a short time after the opening of the new structure, weddings were permitted at the old Co-Cathedral. However, the Archdiocese has moved all activities to the new Co-Cathedral Church. File:Sacredheartcocathedral.JPG, Old Sacred Heart Co-Cathedral façade detail File:CoCathedralcenterHoustonTexas.JPG, Cathedral Center File:CoCathedraleastHoustonTexas.JPG, North façade File:CoCathedralinteriordomeHoustonTexas.JPG, Dome interior Sacred Heart Co-Cathedral Houston interior 2018e.jpg,

Baptismal font A baptismal font is an article of church furniture used for baptism. Aspersion and affusion fonts The fonts of many Christian denominations are for baptisms using a non-immersive method, such as aspersion (sprinkling) or affusion (pouring). ...

Footnotes

External links

Official Cathedral SiteArchdiocese of Galveston-Houston Official SiteSt. Mary's Cathedral Basilica
{{DEFAULTSORT:Co-Cathedral Of The Sacred Heart In Houston Sacred Heart Houston Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Galveston–Houston Roman Catholic churches in Houston Religious organizations established in 1896 Roman Catholic churches completed in 2008 21st-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States Cathedrals in Houston Downtown Houston