Sacred Heart Cathedral of Guangzhou

Edit profile

The Cathedral of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (耶穌聖心主教座堂) also known as Sacred Heart Cathedral (聖心堂) is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Guangzhou (Canton), South China. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Guangzhou (Canton).

The cathedral is located at 56 Yide Lu (or Yat Tak Road), Guangzhou. It is on the north bank of the Pearl River and stands at the heart of the busy old town.


The site of the cathedral was originally the residence of the Viceroy of Guangdong and Guangxi Provinces (兩廣總督) in the Qing Dynasty. During the Second Opium War, the residence was completely destroyed and Viceroy Ye Mingchen (葉名琛) was captured by the British. Based on the terms of an edict issued by Emperor Daoguang (道光皇帝) in February 1846 which promised compensation for churches destroyed and properties taken from the mission, the Société des Missions Etrangères de Paris obtained the site by signing an agreement with the Qing government on January 25, 1861. In his decree of approval, Emperor Xianfeng (咸豐皇帝) wrote "from now on, war should be stopped and peace be sincerely kept forever".

With financial support from Emperor Napoleon III and donations from French catholics,Bishop Philippe François Zéphirin Guillemin, M.E.P. (明稽章), the first vicar apostolic of Guangdong, was in charge of the design and oversaw the construction process. He invited a French architect from Nancy, Léon Vautrin, to design the cathedral. Guillemin himself didn't see the completion of the cathedral. He died at the age of 72 in Paris in 1886, two years before the cathedral was finished. The project was then under supervision of his successor, Bishop Augustin Chausse, M.E.P. (邵斯).

Construction of the foundation began on June 28, 1861, the Feast of the Sacred Heart, and concluded in 1863. On December 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, with surrounding Chinese houses and streets decorated, a grand ceremony was held, attended by the Viceroy of Liangguang (兩廣總督) , all senior Mandarins, a detachment of 300 Tartars, all consuls in Canton as well as the missionaries and a score of priests. The consul of France, Baron Gilbert de Trenqualye, and the bishop delivered speeches. Two foundation stones were blessed and laid. The Latin words "Jerusalem 1863" were engraved on the east one and the words "Roma 1863" on the west one, stating that the Roman Catholic Church had its origin in Jerusalem in the east and evolved in Rome in the west. One kilogram of soil taken from Rome and one stone from Jerusalem were laid under the two foundation stones respectively.

The construction of the cathedral turned out to be very challenging, mostly because of its all-granite structure and the lack of machinery, which means the cathedral had to be built by hand. None of the Chinese workers at that time had seen a western cathedral before, not to mention having experience of building one. Communication was another major problem when the French and the Chinese didn't speak the other language. The construction progress was slow for the first few years. Eventually the French employed a Chinese named Cai Xiao (蔡孝) from Jiexi County as foreman. Cai, having many years of experience in building stone houses in his hometown which enabled him to bring in a lot of unique and creative methods, had barely left the site since employment. The construction of the cathedral took most of his youth but was able to be finished in his lifetime.

The cathedral was constructed at a time when most local cantonese, having suffered from the First and Second Opium Wars, still remained xenophobic. Tensions between the two sides often existed and conflicts and disputes were often solved by the bishop or the French consul taking the matters directly to senior officials in the province or Peking. On August 11, 1880 a fire broke out in the houses just outside the church's fence. Local residents tried to get water from wells located within the boundary of the cathedral's construction site but were denied by the workers. The argue turned into a fight and several people were injured in the subsequent crackdown by the Qing government. In the end the dispute was solved as the local community compensated the church for the alleged damaged houses and stolen property in the chaos.

Due to the site chosen by the church, construction of the cathedral as well as its affiliated school, hospital and orphanage required the teardown of many houses and relocation of local residents. Meanwhile, in the 19th century, almost all houses in Canton were no more than 2 storeys high, so the high-rise cathedral and its pointed twin spires created an unusual scene among the city's skyline which, locals feared, would influence the city's feng shui and consequently bring misfortune and disasters to its people. This resulted in more suspicion and resentment towards the church.

The cathedral was mostly funded by Emperor Napoleon III. When Bishop Guillemin met Napoleon III in Paris in 1858, the Emperor, urged by his wife Eugénie de Montijo, offered a personal grant of 500,000 francs. The money proved not enough in the later construction process. In 1873, a bill was passed in the National Assembly of France with 491 ayes against 100 nays, allowing another 75,000 francs to be allocated to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The cathedral was consecrated in 1888 after 25 years of construction.


Although often misunderstood by the public and media as being modelled on the Notre Dame de Paris and sometimes being referred to as "Notre Dame in the Far East", the cathedral was actually inspired by the Basilica of St. Clotilde in Paris. It features a nave of approximate 27 metres high, flanked by two lower aisles, and 14 small side-chapels. With a floor area of 2,754 square metres, it is the largest Roman Catholic church in the Guangzhou archdiocese and the largest cathedral in the Gothic style in China and Southeast Asia. The cathedral is 35 metres wide, 78.69 metres long, and the twin towers rise 58.5 metres high. The west tower is a clock tower while the east tower serves as bell tower, inside which there used to be five gigantic bronze bells shipped in from France in the 19th century, although nowadays only four remain as one was given to a local church in Guangxi province during the 1980s.

The cathedral, like most of the great Gothic cathedrals of Europe, is built of solid masonry, including all the walls, pillars and the twin towers. The granite stones were transported from Kowloon, Hong Kong by sailing ships. For this reason, it is nicknamed "Stone House" (石室) by local people. "Stone House" is pronounced "Shishi" in Mandarin and "Seksat" in Cantonese, hence the name "Shishi Cathedral" in Mandarin or "Seksat Cathedral" in Cantonese.


Since its completion in 1888, the cathedral has seen three large renovations. The first one was in 1925, when then Bishop Antoine-Pierre-Jean Fourquet, M.E.P. (魏暢茂) replaced the timber roof, beams and steel staircases with concrete ones. After the Cultural Revolution, the government spent ¥150,000 for a second renovation in 1984 and 1986. The third one was initiated in 2004 and finished in the autumn of 2006. The church paid ¥3 million and local catholics donated about ¥2 million for the ¥26 million project, while the rest was covered by the government. The aim of the renovation was to solve the problem of leakage by rebuilding the whole roof and all the beams, which was the most challenging part as the rib vault below needed to remain unaffected and intact. Most of 19th century stained glass was damaged during wartime and smashed in the Cultural Revolution, so new stained glass was made by a Philippine company specialising in church glass and reinstated. Therefore the new stained glass carries English texts rather than Latin and French texts which were on the original French glass. New lighting, audio and CCTV systems were also installed. The original French mechanical clock has long gone, so a new 750,000-yuan clock fit for the clock tower was made by a Chinese clock factory.

Current Mass Times

(as of March 7, 2010) Weekday Daily: 6:45 AM (Cantonese) Saturday: 6:45 AM (Cantonese), 4:30 PM (Korean), 7:30 PM (Mandarin) Sunday: 6:30 AM (Cantonese), 8:30 AM (Cantonese), 10:30 AM (Mandarin), 3:30 PM (English)