Basilica and Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help

For the basilica in Labrador City, see Basilica of our Lady of Perpetual Help, Labrador City.

Basilica and Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Boston
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location:	1545 Tremont Street; Boston, MA 02120
Coordinates:	42°19′57.30″N 71°6′2.15″W / 42.332583°N 71.1005972°W / 42.332583; -71.1005972Coordinates: 42°19′57.30″N 71°6′2.15″W / 42.332583°N 71.1005972°W / 42.332583; -71.1005972
Built:	1878, towers added 1910
Architect:	Schickel and Ditmars, towers by Franz Joseph Untersee
Architectural style:	Romanesque Revival, Gothic Revival
Governing body:	Private (located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston)
NRHP Reference#:	89001747 [1]
Added to NRHP:	November 6, 1989

The Basilica and Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help is a Roman Catholic Basilica in Boston, Massachusetts, sometimes known as Mission Church.

The Redemptorist Fathers built a modest wooden mission church on the location in 1870. The current church structure was first built in 1878, of Roxbury puddingstone; its spires were added in 1910. Due to the church's sloping foundation, the west cross tops its tower at 215 feet (66 m); the other spire is two feet shorter. The length of the church is also 215 feet (66 m), presenting a perfect proportion. The church was elevated to basilica status in 1956 by Pope Pius XII.

It is located on Tremont Street, almost at the center Mission Hill, a 0.75 square miles (1.9 km²)^[2] Boston neighborhood of approximately 18,000 people. The church is considered the symbol of the neighborhood, to which it gives its name.

Senator Edward Kennedy's funeral took place there on August 29, 2009. He had often prayed at the church due to its proximity to the hospitals in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, where he had visited sick and injured members of his family.

See also

• Our Lady of Perpetual Help, the shrine's namesake saint
• The Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, MA, listed in the National Register of Historic Places

References

1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2007-01-23. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html. 
2. ^ Google maps

External links

• themissionchurchboston.com, the Basilica's own web page.
• Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help: Photo Gallery by The Catholic Photographer
• FOXNews.com, Wednesday, August 26, 2009"Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica -- commonly known as the Mission Church -- in the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston. ...The cavernous basilica on Tremont Street, built in the 1870s"
• http://www.panoramio.com/photo/16256976
  The latitude and longitude (42° 19' 57.30" N 71° 6' 2.15" W) are derived from this source.