The Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart is built on the highest peak in Newark next to Branch Brook Park. The French Gothic Cathedral covers 45,000 square feet, an area equal to that of London’s Westminster Abbey, and is longer and taller than St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. Built over a 55-year period, beginning at the turn of the century, the land was purchased in 1871 for $60,000. The cost, initially estimated at $1 million, soon rose to $18 million. Most of the money was raised through large donations and church collections throughout the Archdiocese. The edifice was dedicated on October 19, 1954.
The architect Jeremiah O'Rourke and Monsignor George Hobart Doane planned the cathedral and the location of the cathedral. O'Rourke was chosen to design an English-Irish gothic design. In accepting the commission, O'Rourke pledged to Bishop Wigger that the work would be a labor of love and not of fees and profits. O'Rourke was removed as head architect in 1910 and another architect Mr. Waldron took his place. Changes were made from English-Irish gothic style to a French-gothic.
The structure features hand-carved decorations of wood, stone, and marble imported from countries around the world. Its stained-glass windows, crafted in Munich, Germany, are considered among the finest in the world. The fourteen bells in the west tower were cast in Padua, Italy, and tested by Vatican bell experts. The woodwork and pews are Appalachian oak. Both a national and state historical landmark, the building boasts massive bronze doors imported from Rome, and an altar of Italian marble from the quarry in Pietrasanta.
The five ambulatory chapels surrounding the sanctuary reflect the ethnic and racial diversity of the Roman Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of Newark at the time of completion.
Behind the main altar is the most impressive chapel of all, the Lady Chapel. Dedicated to Our Lady of Grace, it has an altar crafted from Carrara marble and three brilliant chandeliers of hand-cut crystal.
A little known fact is that the five former bishops of Newark are buried in the Cathedral crypt.
The Cathedral's organ, a world-The Cathedral's organ, a world-class concert instrument, was built by Shantz Organ Company of Orrville, Ohio. It has 9,513 pipes and is the largest church organ in New Jersey.
The 36-foot rose window in the gallery over the main entrance is the largest such window in the Catholic Church in the western hemisphere. The granite façade was illuminated on Christmas Eve in 1986, making the edifice visible on the night horizon. With its 232-foot twin towers, they are taller than the Notre Dame in Paris, and its great copper spire, soaring almost 300 feet skyward.
After nearly 95 years of planning and building, Thomas Aloysius Boland, Archbishop of Newark finally dedicated the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart on October 19, 1954. ...
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