Cathedral of the Holy Cross (Boston)

Cathedral of the Holy Cross
North and west facades of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston, Massachusetts
42°20′26″N 71°04′10″W / 42.340693°N 71.069344°W / 42.340693; -71.069344Coordinates: 42°20′26″N 71°04′10″W / 42.340693°N 71.069344°W / 42.340693; -71.069344
Location	1400 Washington Street Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Country	United States of America
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Website	www.holycrossboston.com
History
Dedicated	December 8, 1875
Architecture
Status	Cathedral (also parish church)
Functional status	Active
Architect(s)	Patrick Keely
Style	Gothic Revival
Groundbreaking	April 29, 1866
Specifications
Capacity	1,700 people
Length	364 feet
Width	90 feet
Height	120 feet
Materials	Roxbury puddingstone and gray limestone
Administration
Archdiocese	Boston
Clergy
Archbishop	Cardinal Seán Patrick O'Malley
Rector	Kevin J. O’Leary
Vicar(s)	Pablo Gomis
Deacon(s)	Ricardo M. Mesa
Laity
Organist/Director of music	Leo D. Abbott

The Cathedral of the Holy Cross is the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston and is the largest Roman Catholic church in New England.

When construction was finished, the cathedral rivaled both Old South Church and Trinity Church in grandeur, signalling the emergence of Roman Catholics in what was, at the time of construction, a largely Protestant city and state.

The cathedral is located in the city's South End neighborhood, at 1400 Washington St. Although the South End was initially developed for Boston's emerging Anglo-Saxon Protestant middle class, the neighborhood transitioned to new immigrants, especially Irish, as middle class owners moved to the new Back Bay neighborhood.

The cathedral functions both as a cathedral and as a parish. The Cathedral Parish consists of large English- and Spanish-speaking congregations, drawn largely from the local area, and also includes three Archdiocese-wide congregations: the Ge'ez Rite practiced by Ethiopian, Eritrean, and Egyptian Catholics; the German Apostolate; and the Tridentine Rite Catholic community. The first of these congregations moved to the cathedral from the nearby Holy Trinity Catholic Church in 1994, the other two in 2008.

In 1860, Bishop John Fitzpatrick recognized that the church in Boston had outgrown the old Holy Cross Cathedral on Franklin St. However, plans for the new cathedral were disrupted by the outbreak of the United States Civil War. Bishop Fitzpatrick died in 1866 and Bishop John Williams took over planning for the cathedral project. Ground was broken on April 29, 1866 and the completed structure was dedicated on December 8, 1875 by Williams, who by then, was Boston's first archbishop.