The church was popularly known as "the Basilica", because of its palladian architectural style.[2] 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 or Marist fathers for eighty-five years until 1935,[3] although secular or diocesan clergy were also stationed there.[4]
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 Patterson St, Mt Victoria which was his address as coadjutor. 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.[3]
Sunday: 9:00am (St Mary of the Angels Parish Mass while that church is closed for earthquake strengthening)
Confessions: before 12.10pm weekday Masses or by arrangement.[5]
Music
Sacred Heart Cathedral: interior (c. 2005) with baptismal font in cross-aisle (approximate site of tomb of Bishop Viard is to the left of the font); Painting and emblem of the Sacred Heart in the Sanctuary.
Choirs and ensembles
Sacred Heart Cathedral has a strong music tradition.[6] There are two instrumental (piano, guitars, organ) and vocal ensembles to lead congregational hymn-singing for at least one Sunday Mass each week.[7]
The boys' choir is made up of about 15 boys from the neighbouring Sacred Heart Cathedral School. Each boy receives a scholarship which pays for weekly individual vocal tuition and theory lessons. The boys sing Vespers every Wednesday (5.30pm) and Choral Mass every second Sunday of the month (10.30am) during school term time.[7]
The Cathedral Grand Organ is situated in the choir loft and the console in the whispering gallery. It was designed and built by Arthur Hobday in 1905 and has been revised and enlarged since with the changing needs of the cathedral.[8]
Sacred Heart Cathedral is also a well-used concert venue (500 people can be seated[9]) for outside orchestras and performance groups because of the building's size and its fine "warm" acoustics.[10]
State funerals and episcopal anniversary
The Cathedral choir plays a prominent role in liturgical ceremonies in the Cathedral.[6] 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.[11] 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 New Zealand Parliament. The requiem mass 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 NZ Herald, "unbent beneath the weight of his 91 years ... in his scarlet vestment, [Archbishop Redwood] was 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 where the interment took place.[11]
Sacred Heart Cathedral: south aisle and window; to the right, a station of the cross with a "mater dolorosa" sculpture below it.
Michael Joseph Savage, the 23rd, and 1st Labour, Prime Minister of New Zealand, died on 27 March 1940.[12] 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.[13] 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.[14] 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 galleries high above the altar. After the solemn requiem at the Basilica, Savage was transported to Auckland in a much interrupted rail journey.[15] After resting briefly in St Patrick's Cathedral, he was buried at Bastion Point where the Savage Memorial was eventually constructed.[16]
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), 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."[17]
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.[18] 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.[19]
Maison Carrée, Nimes, front view
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. In 1984 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.[20]
Sacred Heart Cathedral, Wellington, 1910Sacred Heart Cathedral: a Portico Column with Ionic Capital and Entablature.
Designed by architect Francis Petre, with an axis of east-west rather than the west-east of its predecessor, Sacred Heart was built on a classical basilican plan. However, its Portico of ionic columns of Oamaru stone, whose pedestals rest on elongated plinths, and a high pediment closely reflect those of a Roman or Greek temple, and, in that respect, its most obvious model is the Maison Carrée, Nimes, which has full-length, Corinthian, columns. The building is within the classical proportions and forms a Parallelogram 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 giving entrance directly to the church (originally, to a vestibule).[21] The Frieze of the Cathedral pediment carries the Latin 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 colonnadednave and a large arch forming the entrance to the sanctuary.[20] Walls are built in a succession of arches surmounted by a cornice of stone which forms part of the roof.[21] The Cathedral is largely built of Oamaru limestone with brick facings. The Sanctuary has a pleasing array of Oamaru stone columns, some squared and engaged to the walls and piers, and some free-standing supporting the cornice. 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.[22] At the same time a large square or piazza was constructed at the east end of the Cathedral and this is used for processions and gathering space, especially on Palm Sunday, during Holy Week 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.[23] These towers (not designed by Francis Petre[24]) were incorporated in the original design but were removed in 1942, following an earthquake.[3]
Interior features
Sacred Heart of Jesus
The Sanctuary is dominated by a large painting of the Sacred Heart of Jesus 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 of the Sacred Heart.[25]
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.
Latin memorial tablet for Bishop Viard originally placed in St Mary's Cathedral. Translation:Sacred to the Memory Philippe Viard Born Lyons 11 October 1809 Professed Society of Mary 19 May 1839 Consecrated Bishop of Orthosia & Coadjutor to the Vicar Apostolic Western Oceania 7 February 1845 Appointed Apostolic Administrator Diocese of Wellington 20 June 1848 Proclaimed First Bishop of Wellington 3 June 1860 Died Wellington 2 June 1872 His name is held in Benediction
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.[26]
On a pier 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.[22] 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 above).[27] 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.[28][29]
Sculpture
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 sanctuary is a statue of St Brigid, 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 designed and made by Graham Stewart for the visit of Pope John Paul II to Wellington in 1986. The sanctuary contains some important mosaics. Beneath the Stations of the Cross, is a set of fourteen bronzes, Mater Dolorosa, designed by Wellington sculptor, Eve Black, depicting Mary's sorrow as she witnessed her son's journey to the Cross and Grave.[22]
Blessed Sacrament 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. 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) James and Peter. The windows " ... are a unique collection as no other building in the world contains more than two from these same workshops." [22] 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).[30]
Sacred Heart Cathedral: Statue of Blessed Virgin Mary in the cloister courtyard; windows of Blessed Sacrament Chapel .
In the west wall of the chapel is a small space or ambry where the holy oils (called Chrism) 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 of the High Altar of old St Mary's Cathedral.[22] The front of the ambry has a wide red and yellow, glass, mosaic border 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.[30]
In the cloister courtyard beside the foyer entrance of the Cathedral stands the two-metre, cast-iron ("with heavy Gilt") statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, made in France, that was lodged, in honour of the Immaculate Conception, 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."[31] The statue fell some 80 feet during the 1898 fire, crashing down from the tower. However it was later salvaged with minor damage.[32] 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.[28][33] In 1984 the statue of Mary was placed in the cloister courtyard to remain "the sign and warrant of her protection of the city."[34]
Kohatu whakairo and Pou
Amongst the treasures 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 were gifts from Catholic Māori of the Archdiocese and were installed in 1989.[35] They were carved by Porirua master carver Lou Kereopa.[22]
^ abDan Kelly, p. 83, quoting The Tablet, 7 February 1901.
^ abcdefMetropolitan Cathedral of the Sacred Heart and St Mary His Mother, Hill St, Thorndon, Wellington: A Short Guide, Sacred Heart Cathedral Parish, Thorndon, 2011(?)
^”Unique gift to cathedral”, Zealandia, 22 January 1989, p. 1.
Main sources
Charles Fearnley, "The Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Catholic: Hill St", in Early Wellington Churches, Millwood Press, Wellington, 1977, pp. 145–149.
Dan Kelly, On Golders Hill: A History of the Thorndon Parish, Daniel Kelly/Parish of the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Sacred Heart and of Saint Mary His Mother, Wellington, 2001.
Michael O'Meeghan SM, Steadfast in hope: The Story of the Catholic Archdiocese of Wellington 1850-2000, Dunmore Press, Wellington, 2003.
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