Belfast Cathedral at 120 – celebrating the past; planning the future

Friday May 24th 2024

Clergy from the dioceses of Down, Dromore and Connor who attended the 1904 Consecration Service.

Belfast Cathedral will celebrate 120 years of worship within its walls with two special services on June 2, and the Dean of Belfast has extended an invite to all clergy in the dioceses of Connor and Down and Dromore, along with members of every parish, to join the celebration.

In this way, the service will be reminiscent of the grand opening service which saw thousands gather inside and outside St Anne’s on that day in 1904, including 198 clergy from the three dioceses!

Others in attendance included bishops, civic dignitaries, and the general public, all decked out in their best attire.

The service on June 2 1904 was led by the Rt Rev Dr Wellar, Bishop of Down, Dromore and Connor, and the £3,000 offering (which today equates to £406,000) is indicative of the value the people of Belfast placed upon the new Cathedral they had seen rise before their eyes.

Over a four-year period, the Nave had been built around the old parish church of St Anne – worship continuing in the small church as the walls of the new rose up outside. The old church was then demolished, giving way to the new St Anne’s – the first cathedral to have been planned and built by the Church of Ireland since Disestablishment in 1870.

The site in Donegall Street was a gift to the town of Belfast by its landlord, Lord Donegall. The small parish church of St Anne had been consecrated in 1776, and in 1895, the project to build a Cathedral for Belfast was launched. The architects were both Belfast men, Thomas Drew, who provided the plans, and WH Lynn.

The foundation stone was laid on September 6 1899. Services continued in the original St Anne’s until the end of 1903, when the church was no longer visible from the street! The only feature of the old St Anne’s to remain in the present-day Cathedral is the Good Samaritan Window.

The Service of Consecration of the Nave of St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast, on June 2 1904.

The Nave was the first part of the building to be constructed. New sections were completed over time: The Crypt 1922-24; West Front 1925-27; Baptistry 1928; Chapel of the Holy Spirit 1932; Apse and Ambulatory 1959; Transepts 1974 and 1981. The final piece, the stainless steel Spire of Hope, was lowered into place in 2007.

Two services will take place on Sunday June 2. The 11am service provides an opportunity for civic, church, political and community leaders to celebrate 120 years of ministry and Christian witness to the City of Belfast and across the province.

The preacher is the Most Rev John McDowell, Church of Ireland Primate and Archbishop of Armagh. During the service, the Archbishop will dedicate 500 new chairs.

The Dean of Belfast, the Very Rev Stephen Forde, said: “For 120 years, the Nave’s original wooden chairs have served to seat capacity congregations and individuals seeking prayer and solace. Sturdy and robust, they have seated soldiers going to war and civic dignitaries attending services. But they have never been considered comfortable and are difficult to move for concerts and events which provide the Cathedral with vital income.”

The new chairs – 200 cushioned and 300 wooden seats – will be easier to move and stack. Dean Forde said many have been given in memory of family members and by members of the Cathedral community. Others have been given in thanksgiving, and a number of the commercial companies who supply the Cathedral have made significant contributions.

It will cost just over £95,000 to replace all 500 chairs in the Nave, more than half of which has been raised in advance of the Service of Dedication.

On the afternoon of June 2, at 3.30pm, a second service of celebration will be held, to which clergy and representatives of every parish in the dioceses of Connor and Down and Dromore have been invited.

The Very Rev Stephen Forde, Dean of Belfast.

Dean Forde, said: “This very special service is an opportunity for our current generation of clergy and people to celebrate 120 years of ministry and Christian witness at the heart of these three dioceses, and for the city and province which St Anne’s was built to serve.”

The Dean said this 120^th anniversary was also an opportunity to plan for the future. “The world of 2024 is entirely changed from that for which St Anne’s was built in 1904. Then, the Christian Church was self-confident and church attendance assumed across the population.

“The world which we face today and tomorrow is radically different. The place of Christianity can no longer be assumed. The future of our great Cathedral is not guaranteed. We can no longer depend on wealthy industrialists to finance our upkeep.

“Instead, we must ensure that the population of our city takes this Cathedral to their hearts, because our Christianity is relevant, creative and visionary.”

In order to achieve certain priorities it has identified, the Cathedral plans to establish a ‘BC120 campaign’ which will seek new sources of funding and new partners to offer their expertise and their commitment to Belfast Cathedral, helping to sustain its daily operation and to fund the new projects and developments.

Both the 11am and 3.30pm services are open to the public and all are welcome.