Holy Cross Cathedral is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

cathedral located in

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

, and is the seat of the Archdiocese of Lagos. The

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style building was constructed in 1939, when the region was still administered as an

apostolic vicariate An apostolic vicariate is a territorial jurisdiction of the Catholic Church under a titular bishop centered in missionary regions and countries where dioceses or parishes have not yet been established. The status of apostolic vicariate is often ...

, and thus was only elevated to the status of

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

in 1950.

History

Outside of Holy Cross Catholic Cathedral Marina Lagos-Nigeria

The first

(considered a

pro-cathedral A pro-cathedral or procathedral is a parish Church (building), church that temporarily serves as the cathedral or co-cathedral of a diocese, or a church that has the same function in a Catholic missionary jurisdiction (such as an apostolic prefect ...

) building was inaugurated in 1881 and built by stonemasons and architects Lazarus Borges da Silva and Francisco Nobre. After the death of Bishop Ferdinand Terrien in 1929, this original cathedral saw the ordination of the first three Yoruba priests, the late monsignors Lawrence Layode, Julius Onih, and Stephen Adewuyi, by Bishop Thomas Brodericks, the apostolic vicar of

Western Nigeria The former Western State of Nigeria was formed in 1967 when the Western Region was subdivided into the states of Lagos and Western State. Its capital was Ibadan, which was the capital of the old region. The largest ethnic group here are the Yoruba. ...

. By the 1930s, a larger cathedral was needed, and the older one was demolished. The current church building, of French

style architecture, had its foundation stone laid on 6 August 1934 by Bishop Francis O'Rourke and was completed in 1939. Notable Members in the church's history include: 1. S. J. Sawyerr 2. Lourenzo Antonio Cardoso 3. Lazaro Borges da Silva 4. Francisco Nobre 5. J. F. D. Branco 6. Walter P. Siffre 7. Albert Carrena 8. David Evaristo Akerele 9. J. T. Munis 10. P. F. Gomes On 18 April 1950, the apostolic vicariate of Lagos was elevated to metropolitan archdiocese in accordance with the

papal bull A papal bull is a type of public decree, letters patent, or charter issued by the pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the leaden Seal (emblem), seal (''bulla (seal), bulla'') traditionally appended to authenticate it. History Papal ...

entitled ''Laeto accepimus'', issued by

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII (; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 18769 October 1958) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958. He is the most recent p ...

. The latest Archbishop to be installed at the cathedral is Alfred Adewale Martins, who is incumbent since 2012. By year-end 2016, the archdiocese counted 3,274,000 baptized out of a total population of 12,276,000 which corresponds to 26.7% of the total.

Succession of pastors

* Francesco Borghero (1861 – 1865) * Pierre Bouche (1867 – 1871) * Jean-Baptiste Chausse,

SMA SMA or S.M.A. may refer to: Places * American Samoa, ITU letter code * Santa Maria Airport (Azores) (IATA code) *San Miguel de Allende, Mexico People * Sergeant Major of the Army, U.S. * Sima (Chinese surname), or Sma * Joshua Falk, known as '' ...

(12 May 1891 – 30 January 1894, deceased) * Paul Pellet, SMA (15 January 1895 – 1902, resigned) * Joseph-Antoine Lang, SMA (19 July 1902 – 2 January 1912, deceased) * Ferdinand Terrien, SMA (1 March 1912 – 3 August 1929, deceased) * Francis O'Rourke, SMA (31 March 1930 – 28 October 1938, deceased) * Leo Hale Taylor, SMA (13 June 1939 – 27 October 1965, deceased) * John Kwao Amuzu Aggey (6 July 1965 – 13 March 1972, deceased) * Anthony Olubunmi Okogie (13 April 1973 – 25 May 2012, retired) * Alfred Adewale Martins, (25 May 2012 – present)

Gallery

File:View of ceiling.jpg, View of the cathedral ceiling File:Façades of Holy Cross showing three entrances.jpg, Façades of Holy Cross showing the three entrances File:Exterior of the Cathedral in Lagos.jpg, View of the cathedral exterior

References

External links

{{Official website, www.hcclng.org/ Churches in Lagos Buildings and structures in Lagos 1881 establishments in Lagos Colony Roman Catholic churches completed in 1939 Roman Catholic cathedrals in Nigeria Gothic architecture in Nigeria 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Nigeria Afro-Brazilian architecture 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Africa