The Cathedral of the Holy Cross is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston and the largest church in New England .
mass being said and sung in Latin in the chapel of Cathedral of the Holy Cross]]
The cathedral was designed by Patrick Keely, an American nineteenth century ecclesiastical architect. The cathedral is built in the Gothic Revival style of variegated Roxbury puddingstone, with gray limestone trim. The planned western spire was never completed. 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, Boston, MA 02118. 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.
"In 1860, Bishop Fitzpatrick recognized that the church in Boston had outgrown the old Cathedral on Franklin St. However, the Civil War interrupted the plans for the new Cathedral. Bishop Fitzpatrick died in 1866 and Bishop Williams took over planning for the cathedral project. Ground was broken for the new cathedral on April 29, 1866. The rites of dedication were performed on December 8, 1875 by Archbishop John J. Williams, Boston's first archbishop." The cathedral has a Hook and Hastings pipe organ built in 1875, the largest organ manufactured by that company. It is widely considered one of the finest of its type in the country.
On October 1, 1979, Pope John Paul II held a 38-minute prayer service for 2,000 priests in the cathedral.
Cathedral High School is a Roman Catholic high school in Boston, Massachusetts. Many of its alumni go on to attend the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. (Cathedral High School Official Website)