On Dec. 8, 1875 the newly built Cathedral of the Holy Cross was blessed and dedicated to Boston as the “finest ecclesiastical structure yet finished in this country”, according to Bishop Patrick Lynch, who visited from the Diocese of Charleston, S.C., to perform the dedication.
Last Friday marked the Cathedral’s 125th anniversary. A special mass was held to celebrate both the birthday of the church and the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, a holy day for Catholics worldwide.
Cardinal Bernard Law, Archbishop of Boston, performed the mass and thanked the congregation for braving the snowy night to commemorate the anniversary of one of Boston’s most beautiful structures.
“God has tested us with the weather,” Law said, addressing the filled pews before him. “And all of you have passed the test amazingly well.”
Although the church’s congregation is actually quite small, hundreds of devoted Catholics attended the mass and joined Law in celebrating the history of the Cathedral.
The quiet, candle-lit sanctuary invited a solemn atmosphere, but the seated worshippers chuckled when Law began to discuss the cathedral by saying, “I think it is important to mention that this church is bigger than St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York.”
The grandeur of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross does indeed rival New York’s most famous cathedral, both in size and extravagance. Patrick Keely, the acclaimed 19th century architect from Brooklyn, designed the 364-foot long structure to be almost as large as the Cathedral of Notre Dome in Paris. The church was built in the neo-Gothic style and is made of Roxbury puddingstone.
Law pointed out that the bricks lining the entrance arch were taken from the Ursuline convent of Charlestown, which was burned down during the anti-Catholic riots of 1834, reminding the worshippers of the hardships that their Catholic leaders had overcome in the past.
“How well our forefathers in the faith did for us,” Law said, gesturing to the detailed, arched ceiling. “And they certainly did not have the kinds of resources that we have today.
“This cathedral belongs to all of us because it is here, more than any other place, that we celebrate our unity in faith.”
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