St Joseph's Church, is a

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 ...

church in

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. It is administered by the

Rosminians The Rosminians, officially named the Institute of Charity (), abbreviated I.C., are a Catholic Church, Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men founded by Antonio Rosmini-Serbati, Antonio Rosmini and first organise ...

. It serves the areas of

Gabalfa Gabalfa (, ) is a district and community in the north of the city of Cardiff, capital of Wales. It is characterised by a four-lane flyover road at the Gabalfa Interchange, where the A48 road meets the A470 road (North Road) which leads from Car ...

Cathays Cathays ( ; standardised ; sometimes , 'the constant meadow') is a district and community in the centre of Cardiff, capital of Wales. It is an old suburb of Cardiff established in 1875. It is densely populated and contains many Victorian ter ...

, and

Maindy

Maindy (, meaning ''Sto ...

History

Early history

The Rosminians arrived in Cardiff in 1854. They first established St Peter's Church,

Roath Roath () is a district and Community (Wales), community to the north-east of the Cardiff city centre, city centre of Cardiff, capital of Wales. The area is mostly covered by the Plasnewydd electoral ward, and stretches from Adamsdown in the so ...

, and St Alban's Church,

Splott Splott () is a district and community in the south of the city of Cardiff, capital of Wales, just east of the city centre. It was built up in the late 19th century on the land of two farms of the same name: Upper Splott and Lower Splott Farms. S ...

. The first church building of St Joseph's used parts from an iron church at St Alban's parish, which received a new building in 1911. This opened on

shrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominance (ecology), dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbaceous plant, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally o ...

in Gabalfa on 1 June 1913, served by

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

s from St Peter's parish. In 1921, it became an independent parish, serving around 1,000 Catholics. The presbytery building was completed later, in 1927. The current church building received funding in 1934 from an £11,000 donation from Thomas Callaghan after the death of his wife Edith. It was designed by the architect F. R. Bates, with rounded arches and red-brown

brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

construction. This opened on 28 October 1936. It has a

baptistery In Church architecture, Christian architecture the baptistery or baptistry (Old French ''baptisterie''; Latin ''baptisterium''; Greek language, Greek , 'bathing-place, baptistery', from , baptízein, 'to baptize') is the separate centrally planned ...

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...

choir loft A choir, also sometimes called quire, is the area of a church (building), church or cathedral that provides seating for the clergy and church choir. It is in the western part of the chancel, between the nave and the Sanctuary#Sanctuary as area a ...

, and

aisle An aisle is a linear space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, in buildings such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parliaments, courtrooms, ...

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 ...

Modern history

The interior of St Joseph's Church was changed significantly after 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 ...

. The

church hall A church hall or parish hall is a room or building associated with a church, generally for community and charitable use. In smaller and village communities, it is often a separate building near the church, while on more restricted urban sites ...

was added in the late 2000s.

Music

Organ

The

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

at St Joseph's was built in 1947 by

Conacher and Co Conacher and Co was a firm of British Organ building, organ builders based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. History The firm originated with Peter Conacher (1823–1894), who was born in Scotland and who studied as an apprentice organ ...

, with six ranks of

pipes Pipe(s), PIPE(S) or piping may refer to: Objects * Pipe (fluid conveyance), a hollow cylinder following certain dimension rules ** Piping, the use of pipes in industry * Smoking pipe ** Tobacco pipe * Half-pipe and quarter pipe, semi-circu ...

. This organ remained in the church until 2008, when

water damage Water damage describes various possible losses caused by water intruding where it will enable attack of a material or system by destructive processes such as rotting of wood, mold growth, bacteria growth, rusting of steel, swelling of composit ...

meant that the organ was scrapped. It was replaced with an

electric organ An electric organ, also known as electronic organ, is an electronic keyboard instrument which was derived from the harmonium, pipe organ and theatre organ. Originally designed to imitate their sound, or orchestral sounds, it has since develop ...

in 2008.

References

External links

*
Parish Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cardiff, Saint Joseph's Church Churches completed in 1936 Roman Catholic churches in Cardiff Rosminian churches in the United Kingdom Romanesque Revival church buildings in the United Kingdom