The parish church of the Sacred Heart on Richmond Street, Port of Spain will be celebrating its patronal feast day on Friday, June 23. Activities will commence from Tuesday, June 20 and run until Sunday, June 25, ending with a street procession around the parish church.

Before Mass at 12:00 noon each day various prayer groups will be conducting devotional prayers starting at 10:00 a.m. Mass will be celebrated and a sermon given each day by various preachers.

On Tuesday, June 20, Mass will be celebrated by Fr Dwight Merrick; Wednesday 21 – Fr Godfrey Stoute, Thursday 22 – Fr Reginald Hezekiah and on Friday 23, feast of the Sacred Heart, the celebrant will be Archbishop Edward Gilbert.

On Sunday, June 25, Msgr Cuthbert Alexander, Cathedral/Sacred Heart Administrator, will celebrate Mass at 11:00 a.m. Mass will be followed by a procession through the streets, ending with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament in the Church. The Sacred Heart Church Traditional Choir will sing during that 11:00 a.m. Mass.

During the week of activities there will be snack plates available before and after Masses from Tuesday to Thursday at $10 each. On Friday, the Feast day, there will be tasty lunches on sale at $25 each and also a grand cake sale.

This fundraising project is to assist in the badly needed repairs to the church roof, which is leaking.
All are invited to celebrate with us.

History of Sacred Heart Church

In 1874 a school/chapel was built on Richmond Street, Port of Spain dedicated to the Sacred Heart. Fr Thomas Greenough an English Dominican, who was parish priest at the time, never ceased planning to build a church.

By 1880 he had collected enough money to build his dream church. The foundation stone was laid on May 6, 1880 by the then Archbishop Louis Joachim Conin, OP. The construction took as little as two years. On December 3, 1882 the same Archbishop solemnly blessed and opened the new church of the Sacred Heart on Richmond Street.

In 1883 Fr Thomas Greenough built the magnificent Way of the Cross which adorns the interior of the church walls. He was also presented with a gift of nine exquisite Flemish stained glass windows depicting various saints of the Catholic Church.

Both the stations of the cross and the stained glass windows are said to be amongst the best of its kind in Trinidad and Tobago and the entire Caribbean. Fr Greenough later erected an enormous belfry close to the main entrance of the church. The belfry housed three large bells.

Built in English Gothic style, this beautiful edifice dedicated to the Sacred Heart is built entirely of cut stones. It stands today as a monument built by this remarkable man of God, Fr Thomas Greenough, during his long dedication to God and the people of Trinidad and Tobago.