The Cathedral Church of St Mary is a

Catholic 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 ...

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 ...

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a metropolitan county in North East England, situated around the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear. It was created in 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972, along with five metropolitan boroughs of Gateshead, Newc ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It is the

mother church Mother church or matrice is a term depicting the Christian Church as a mother in her functions of nourishing and protecting the believer. It may also refer to the primary church of a Christian denomination or diocese, i.e. a cathedral or a metropo ...

of the

Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle The Roman Catholic Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church, centred on St Mary's Cathedral in the city of Newcastle upon Tyne in England. The diocese is one of the six suffragan sees in the ecclesiastic ...

and seat of the Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle. The cathedral, situated on Clayton Street, was designed by

Augustus Welby Pugin Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin ( ; 1 March 181214 September 1852) was an English architect, designer, artist and critic with French and, ultimately, Swiss origins. He is principally remembered for his pioneering role in the Gothic Revival st ...

and built between 1842 and 1844. The cathedral is a grade I listed building and a fine example of the Gothic Revival style of architecture championed by Pugin. There is a monument dedicated to Cardinal Basil Hume in the Monument Garden outside of the cathedral, which was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 2002. St Mary's Cathedral is the sixth tallest structure in the city.

History

St. Mary's Church in Newcastle opened in August 1844, paid for largely through halfpenny subscriptions from the community of poor immigrants on Tyneside. The priest at the mission at

was William Riddell. The stained glass in the Great East Window, Lady Chapel and Blessed Sacrament Chapel, were done by

William Wailes William Wailes (1808–1881) was the proprietor of one of England's largest and most prolific stained glass workshops. Life and career Wailes was born and grew up in Newcastle on Tyne, England's centre of domestic glass and bottle manufacturing. ...

in 1843 to designs provided by Pugin. By decree of Pope Pius IX on 29 September 1850, the Catholic hierarchy was restored on a regular pattern to England and Wales. Much of what had been known as the Vicariate Apostolic of the Northern District became the new See of Hexham. Bishop William Hogarth was appointed to be the first bishop of the new diocese, and as such, required a church in which to place his seat or cathedra. St Mary's was chosen for this purpose and thus it gained the status of a cathedral church in 1850, becoming the first cathedral in Newcastle, as the Anglican St. Nicholas' Cathedral didn't become a cathedral until 1882. On 21 August 1860, the cathedral was dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption. The name of the see was changed in 1861 to

. Since then, eleven further bishops have been installed in St Mary's as Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle. With a bequest from the estate of Elizabeth Dunn, in 1872 a tower and steeple designed by Dunn & Hansom were added.

Present

The seat of the Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle was vacant after the death of the Right Reverend Kevin John Dunn in March 2008. He served in the post for almost four years, having been consecrated a Bishop and installed on the feast of St Bede the Venerable, 25 May 2004. Seamus Cunningham received his

episcopal consecration A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

on 20 March 2009 (feast of St. Cuthbert, the diocese's patron), at St. Mary's Cathedral. He is the thirteenth bishop of the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle. On 21 April 2006 the incumbent Dean, the Reverend Michael Campion, officially left his appointment at the cathedral. He is succeeded by the Reverend Peter Leighton, formerly the Catholic Chaplain to the

University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charte ...

. Under the careful guidance of the Reverend Peter Leighton, the cathedral has undergone a thorough period of renovation restoring much of the beauty of the original design. Phase one of the work was completed in September 2010 and phase two of the work, which included the installation of a new three-manual Kenneth Tickell organ of 46 stops, was completed in February 2013."St Mary's Cathedral, Newcastle upon Tyne", Kenneth Tickell & Company, Ltd.
/ref> On 4 February, Pope Francis announced that Bishop Robert Byrne was to be the next Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle after the resignation of Bishop Seamus Cunningham. Robert Byrne previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Birmingham, he is also a member of the Oratory the St. Philip Neri at Birmingham Oratory.

Gallery

File:St. Marys, Newcastle.jpg, As seen from Neville Street File:St. Mary's Cathedral Newcastle (c. 1900).jpg, Nave circa 1900 File:Crucifix-cathedral-church-st-mary-newcastle.JPG, Crucifix File:St Marys Cathedral Newcastle.jpg, Nave in 2017

References

External links

Official Cathedral WebsiteOfficial Diocesan Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Newcastle upon Tyne, Saint Mary Roman Catholic churches in Tyne and Wear Saint Mary Roman Catholic cathedrals in England Grade I listed buildings in Tyne and Wear Tourist attractions in Tyne and Wear Grade I listed cathedrals Roman Catholic churches completed in 1844 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom Grade I listed Roman Catholic churches in England Roman Catholic Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle

History

Present

Gallery

See also

References

External links