Cathedral Church of St. Marie, Sheffield

Cathedral Church of St Marie
Cathedral Church of St Marie, Sheffield
Cathedral Church of St Marie Shown within Sheffield
Coordinates: 53°22′53″N 1°28′06″W / 53.3813°N 1.4682°W / 53.3813; -1.4682
Location	Sheffield, South Yorkshire
Country	England
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Website	www.stmariecathedral.org
History
Consecrated	1889
Architecture
Architect(s)	Matthew Ellison Hadfield
Style	Gothic Revival
Years built	1846-1850
Specifications
Number of spires	1
Administration
Diocese	Hallam (since 1980)
Province	Liverpool
Clergy
Bishop(s)	Ralph Heskett
Laity
Director of music	Philip Jakob

The Cathedral Church of St Marie is the Roman Catholic cathedral in Sheffield, England. It lies in a slightly hidden location, just off the main shopping street in the city, but signals its presence with a tall spire. It is an especially fine example of an English Roman Catholic Church, with much fine interior decoration. Re-ordering of the Sanctuary following the Second Vatican Council, has been sensitive. There are several particularly notable side altars, as well as statues and painted tiles.

Before the English Reformation the Church of England was part of the Roman Catholic Church, 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, the Church of England split 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, 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 still retains its Catholic consecration crosses, and relics, making this possible. Mass was celebrated in a few houses of gentry in Sheffield, including in a house on Fargate that belonged to the Duke of Norfolk, which had a hidden chapel in its roof.

The Catholic Emancipation of the late 18th and early 19th century allowed Catholics to worship more openly. Sheffield 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 called Matthew Ellison Hadfield designed St Marie’s, based on a 14th-century church at Heckington in Lincolnshire. The church was expensively decorated with the aid of generous donations from the Duke of Norfolk, his mother and parishioners. Fr. Pratt died while the church was being built and was buried at St Bede’s. However, a stonemason, who had often heard him say he wanted to be buried in St Marie’s, dug up the coffin and re‑buried Fr. Pratt in a tomb he had prepared near the altar. Fr Pratt’s body still lies there and a plaque marks the spot, but his effigy has been moved to beneath the altar in the Mortuary chapel.