Sacred Heart Church is a

Catholic church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

located on Hillsborough Street in downtown

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Southe ...

, United States. The church served as the

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...

of the Diocese of Raleigh from 1924 to 2017. In 1978 it, and the other parish buildings, was included as a contributing property in the Capitol Area Historic District, which is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

. Sacred Heart is also the location of the Cathedral School, formally called Sacred Heart Cathedral School.

History

Sacred Heart Church Raleigh interior 2017

Sacred Heart Parish was established in 1879. Ground was broken for the present church building in 1922, and it was completed two years later. Later in 1924 the Apostolic Vicariate of North Carolina was elevated to the Diocese of Raleigh, and Sacred Heart Church became the diocesan cathedral.

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

was the last state to have a diocese established within it, and Catholics were small in number. The rectory, which sits behind the church, was completed in 1917, the

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglic ...

that housed Dominican sisters was completed in 1927, and the school building was completed in 1938. While the buildings in the complex differ in style, they each feature irregular rough hewn ashlar stone with raised mortar joints. The church building itself is rather simple in its design. It features Gothic elements, such as pointed arches, lancet windows, mock

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral ( ...

es, and a corner tower with a

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires a ...

. There is a statue of the

Sacred Heart of Jesus The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus ( la, Cor Jesu Sacratissimum) is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This dev ...

above the main entrance. With seating for about 300 people, Sacred Heart had become the smallest Roman Catholic cathedral in the continental United States and the second smallest in the country. Due to the church's size, eleven masses were necessary per weekend to accommodate all of the attendees. In 2011, Bishop Michael F. Burbidge announced the construction of a new cathedral to replace Sacred Heart, which could no longer accommodate the growing parish and diocese. Fund-raising began in September of that year for the new facility, and it is located on the where the diocesan offices and Cardinal Gibbons High School were formerly located. Groundbreaking for the new Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral took place January 3, 2015. Built for $41 million and seating 2,000 people, the new cathedral was dedicated on July 26, 2017. Sacred Heart continues to be used for daily Mass, weddings, and funerals but no longer holds Sunday Mass.

School

Cathedral School is a Pre-K through eighth-grade school located next to Sacred Heart Church. The school was established in 1909 and educates young Catholics and prepares them for High School. Cathedral School feeds into Cardinal Gibbons High School. Cardinal Gibbons High School had originally been at Sacred Heart Cathedral and was called Sacred Heart High School and then Cathedral Latin High School. In 2007, Cathedral School received a National Blue Ribbon of Excellence Award. The Cathedral School will move to the new cathedral site when complete.

Gallery

File:Sacred Heart Cathedral - Raleigh 09.JPG, Rectory File:Sacred Heart Cathedral - Raleigh 10.JPG, Convent File:Sacred Heart Cathedral - Raleigh 05.JPG, Sacred Heart statue above the main entrance. File:Our Lady of North Carolina.JPG, Statue of Our Lady of North Carolina at the front of the school. File:Sacred Heart Cathedral - Raleigh 08.JPG, Grave of Msgr. Thomas P. Griffin who built the church and founded the school.

References

External links

Website
{{Wake county middle schools Religious organizations established in 1879 Roman Catholic churches completed in 1924 Roman Catholic churches in Raleigh, North Carolina Roman Catholic Diocese of Raleigh Gothic Revival church buildings in North Carolina Private schools in Raleigh, North Carolina Catholic elementary schools in North Carolina Roman Catholic cathedrals in North Carolina Former cathedrals in the United States Historic district contributing properties in North Carolina Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States