Today we celebrate the anniversary of the dedication of our cathedral.
The cathedral opened with Mass on 25 March 1858 (the Feast of the Annunciation), and consecrated by Bishop Vaughan, the second bishop of Plymouth on this day- 22 September 1880.
The cathedral church of St Mary and St Boniface is the spiritual home of our bishop and of the entire people of God in the diocese. We cover the three beautiful counties of Cornwall, Devon, and Dorset. It is a good moment to pray for our bishop elect Bishop Philip, who has been chosen by the Holy Father, to be the 10th bishop of our diocese of Plymouth.
The architects engaged were Joseph Aloysius Hansom, distinguished particularly for his work for the Catholic Church, and his younger brother Charles Francis Hansom, also a prolific church architect; Plymouth Cathedral was the first of the Hansoms’ many churches in the Southwest. We were blessed to survive the WWII bombings which devastated so many of the buildings in Plymouth.
The building—the cathedral in Plymouth City is a symbol. What we celebrate is really our Lord Jesus, who calls us together to be his holy people, united with him and in him around the altar where his high priest, our bishop, presides and celebrates the Eucharist; and at the chair, the cathedra, where the bishop teaches us, nourishing us with the Word of God; and at the font where he washes new members of God’s family clean of their sins at the Easter Vigil. The Spirit of God is at work in all these sacred mysteries, revealing to us the truths of God’s love and the truths of how we are to carry that love into our own lives.
Since we can’t all fit into the cathedral and because of the large distances that our diocese covers, the bishop can’t be everywhere in the diocese at once—obviously— so he ordains priests and deacons to assist in his ministry of teaching, sanctifying, and guiding the flock of Jesus Christ, which goes on in our parish churches and other places of worship.
But the parish par excellence, the home church for all of us, is the cathedral. So we celebrate the building, the cathedral, and what it represents—Jesus our good shepherd, the earthly shepherd whom he chooses for us, and ourselves as his people—on its birthday, the anniversary of the day when it was solemnly consecrated for the worship of the Father in Spirit and in truth.
I thank you for your love and support that you show for the cathedral church, and on this anniversary. I extend a warm welcome to everyone to come and visit us here, in the Ocean City of Plymouth, steeped in history.
Now let us take a moment to recall the many tens of thousands of people who over these last 166 years have come to this sacred place for worship and have now gone before us in faith to their heavenly reward, including our former bishops, and priests who have served here and have administered the mercy and love of God through sacraments and example.
Our Blessed Lady and St Boniface were chosen as the patron saints of the cathedral church, and the relic of St Boniface rests in the altar here in our cathedral- with that in mind, let us ask Our Lady and St Boniface to intercede for us. Amen.
Homily for the Solemnity of the Dedication of the Cathedral of Plymouth.
22nd September 2024.
Canon Mark O’Keeffe- Cathedral Dean.