The Immaculate Conception Cathedral (, also Juticalpa Cathedral) is a

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 ...

located in the city of

Juticalpa Juticalpa () is the capital of Olancho Department in Honduras, with a population of 75,790 (2023 calculation), and the municipal seat of Juticalpa Municipality. Situated in a broad river valley alongside the Rio Juticalpa, the town is a commer ...

, in the department of Olancho, part of the Central American country of

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

. It is one of the four cathedrals dedicated to the Immaculate Conception of St. Mary in Honduran territory, the others being Choluteca,

Comayagua Comayagua () is a city, municipality and old capital of Honduras, located northwest of Tegucigalpa on the highway to San Pedro Sula and above sea level. The accelerated growth experienced by the city of Comayagua led the municipal authoriti ...

and Danlí.

History

According to one historian, it was Fray Antonio Bertrand in 1734 who first called for a church to be built in Juticalpa, asking for funds from the Captaincy General of Guatemala. Members of the local community contributed according to their means, as well as parishioners. Not much is known about this original church. Work on a new building commenced in 1835 by the master builder Hipólito Estrada. His work was interrupted and Enrique Cañas continued. The high altar was built by Coronado Chávez, and it was covered with ten pounds of gold paint. The temple was finished in 1847. The clock that is in one of the towers was donated by Juan Vilardebó and his wife Irene Güell on December 8, 1875. The temple follows the Roman or Latin rite and is the mother church of the diocese of Juticalpa (''Dioecesis Iuticalpensis''). It was created as a territorial prelature in 1949, and elevated to its current status in 1987 through the bull "Universae Dei" of

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 ...

. It is under the pastoral responsibility of Bishop José Bonello.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Immaculate Conception Cathedral, Church Roman Catholic cathedrals in Honduras Roman Catholic churches completed in 1847 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Honduras

History

See also

References