The Cathedral Church of St Marie is the
Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
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 ...
in
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...
,
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. It lies in a slightly hidden location, just off
Fargate
Fargate is a pedestrian precinct and shopping area in Sheffield
Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is ...
shopping street, but signals its presence 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. Spire ...
, the tallest in Sheffield. It is a notable example of an English Roman Catholic cathedral, with much fine interior decoration. Reordering of the
sanctuary
A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred space, sacred place, such as a shrine, protected by ecclesiastical immunity. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This seconda ...
following the
Second Vatican Council
The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...
has been sensitive. There are several notable side altars as well as historic statues and painted tiles.
History
Reformation
Before the
English Reformation
The English Reformation began in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away first from the authority of the pope and bishops Oath_of_Supremacy, over the King and then from some doctrines and practices of the Catholic Church ...
the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
was part of the
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
and Sheffield's medieval parish church of St Peter (now the
Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul) was the principal Catholic church in the district. In 1534, during the reign of
Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...
, the Church of England separated from Rome and Catholic worship was outlawed. Until the 18th century, Catholics faced fines, loss of property and social exclusion and Catholic priests were hunted down, imprisoned and martyred. The main landowners in Sheffield were the
Dukes of Norfolk
Duke of Norfolk is a title in the peerage of England. The premier non-royal peer, the Duke of Norfolk is additionally the premier duke and earl in the English peerage. The seat of the Duke of Norfolk is Arundel Castle in Sussex, although the t ...
, and the Shrewsbury Chapel in the now Anglican parish church remained Catholic until 1933. During the reordering of St Mary's in 1970, at the invitation of the Anglican cathedral, Mass was celebrated on the altar of the Shrewsbury Chapel once again. The altar retains its Catholic consecration crosses and relics. Mass was celebrated in a few houses of gentry in Sheffield, including in a house on
Fargate
Fargate is a pedestrian precinct and shopping area in Sheffield
Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is ...
that belonged to the Duke of Norfolk, which had a hidden chapel in its roof.
Establishment of the Church of St Marie
left, Nave of the cathedral
The
Catholic Emancipation of the late 18th and early 19th centuries allowed Catholics to worship more openly.
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...
Catholics bought the ageing house which stood on the corner of Fargate and Norfolk Row. They built a small chapel in its back garden on a site which is now between the mortuary and the Blessed Sacrament chapels. The names of the priests who served Sheffield before the cathedral was built and the dates of their deaths are on the wall of the Mortuary Chapel. The rest of the land where the cathedral now stands became a cemetery. (Bodies from the cemetery were moved to the new Catholic cemetery at
St Bede's in Rotherham and work on St Marie's began.) By 1846 the chapel was too small and the young priest, Fr Pratt, was keen to build a church for the expanding town. A leading local architect,
Matthew Ellison Hadfield
Matthew Ellison Hadfield (8 September 1812 – 9 March 1885) was an English architect of the Victorian Gothic revival. He is chiefly known for his work on Roman Catholic churches, including the cathedral churches of Salford and Sheffield.
Trai ...
, designed St Marie's based on a 14th-century church at
Heckington
Heckington is a village and civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated between Sleaford and Swineshead, Lincolnshire, Swineshead Bridge, and south of the A17 road (England), A17 road. Heckington, with 1 ...
in Lincolnshire.
The church was expensively decorated with the aid of generous donations from the Duke of Norfolk, his mother and parishioners. Pratt died while the church was being built and was buried at St Bede's. However, a stonemason who had often heard Pratt say he wanted to be buried in St Marie's, dug up the coffin and reburied it in a tomb he had prepared near the altar. Pratt's coffin still lies there and a plaque marks the spot, but his effigy has been moved to beneath the altar in the Mortuary chapel.
St Marie's was completed in 1850 and opened on 11 September. Building the church cost more than £10,500 – a very large sum in those days (about £1.5 million in 2020) – and it was not until 1889 that the church was free from debt. The Parish of St Marie's, which covered the whole of Sheffield, became part of the
Diocese of Beverley in 1850, when Catholic dioceses were re-established for the first time since the English Reformation. In 1902 a new presbytery, now known as Cathedral House, was opened. During the Second World War a bomb blew out stained glass windows in the Blessed Sacrament chapel. The remaining windows were removed and stored in a shaft at
Nunnery Colliery. The mine flooded during the war, the glass sunk in mud, and drawings for recreating the windows were destroyed, however it was still possible to reinstall the windows in 1947. When St Marie's was reordered in 1970 following
Vatican II
The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent Catholic ecumenical councils, ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilic ...
, dark woodwork was removed and new lighting and benches were installed. In 1972, a new altar allowing Mass to be celebrated ''versus populum'' was consecrated by Bishop
Gerald Moverley, auxiliary Bishop of Leeds. The church is a Grade II*
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
and was first listed in 1973.
On 30 May 1980 the new
Diocese of Hallam was created and St Marie's became a cathedral. Bishop Moverley was installed as its first bishop and served until his death in 1996, after which Bishop
John Rawsthorne became the second
Bishop of Hallam.
An extensive programme of renovations caused the cathedral to close in September 2011, reopening in November 2012. During that time the sanctuary was extended into the crossing and reordered, a new
cathedra
A ''cathedra'' is the throne of a bishop in the early Christian basilica. When used with this meaning, it may also be called the bishop's throne. With time, the related term ''cathedral'' became synonymous with the "seat", or principa ...
was installed and the choir moved to the west end of the building. Side chapels and roofing was restored, in some cases revealing original features previously hidden. New heating and toilet facilities have also been installed. During the restoration process, a collection of
Nottingham alabaster carvings, mostly originating from the 15th century, were discovered and also underwent extensive restoration, finally going on display in the cathedral cloisters in April 2017.
Following the reopening in November 2012, Bishop Rawsthorne retired at the age of 78. In July 2014, Bishop
Ralph Heskett was installed as the third Bishop of Hallam.
The cathedral is one of few Catholic churches equipped for
change ringing
Change ringing is the art of ringing a set of tuning (music), tuned bell (instrument), bells in a tightly controlled manner to produce precise variations in their successive striking sequences, known as "changes". This can be by method ringing in ...
. It has eight bells in the ring and an Angelus bell. The main ring is by Mears & Stainbank from 1874, the Angelus being an earlier 1850 Charles & George Mears. Steel bells were first installed in 1861, before being replaced with bronze ones in 1874.
In recent years, the cathedral has been developed as a place of significant public interest, and as an especially fine concert venue, having hosted many of the finest choral ensembles in the world.
References
External links
Official websiteDiocese of Hallam website"Cathedral Windows Restored To Former Glory" press release
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheffield, Saint Marie
Saint Marie
Grade II* listed cathedrals
Roman Catholic cathedrals in England
Saint Marie
Saint Marie
Roman Catholic churches completed in 1850
19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom
Roman Catholic Diocese of Hallam
Grade II* listed churches in South Yorkshire