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INTRODUCTION
The Dedication of the Cathedral
On 6 August 1945, within minutes of the flash of the Atomic Bomb, Hiroshima was engulfed in flames. Tens of thousands of people died; World War II ended.
A Jesuit missionary, the Reverend Hugo Lassalle, was pastor of the parish at Noboricho located less than 1500 meters from the hypocenter of the bomb. Although wounded vritically, he survived.
As he turned to the task of rebuilding his church, he gegan to think of it as a monument to World Peace, thrusting its tower to heaven from the charred heart of Hiroshima. It would be a Cathedral dedicated to the memory of the Atomic Bomb victims, a symbol of love and peace for all nations.
In September 1946 when Father Lassalle went to Rome for an audience with His Holiness Pope Pius XII, he disclosed his dream of a Peace Cathedral in Hiroshima.
With the Pope’s blessing he set about soliciting funds from Europe, America, and from all over the world. The counstruction begun on 6 August 1950 was completed by 6 August 1954. The Cathedral now stands as a symbol of hope, dedicated to World Peace built by the people of the world who yearn for peace, an earnest expression of love and giving that has transcended race, creed, and notionality.
Inscription on the tower wall(Japanese and Latin)
而して此の聖堂によりで恒に伝へらるべきものは虚偽に非ずして真実、権力に非ずして正義、憎悪に非ずして慈愛、即ち人類に平和をもたらす神への道たるべし。故に此の聖堂に来り拝するすべての人々は、逝ける犠牲者の永遠の安息と人類相互の恒久の平安とのために祈られんことを。
昭和29年8月6日
This church was erected in memory of the victims of the first atomic bomb, dropped on Hiroshima on 6 August 1945, and as a sign of peace for all nations, symbolizing the true and only way that leads to peace with God and man: the way of truth, not of deception; of justice, not of violence; of love, not of hate. Therefore all who enter this church are earnestly requested to offer their prayers for the eternal repose of the departed and for peace among the peoples of the world.
The sixth day of August in the year 1954.
Data on the structure of the Building
Type of construction: reinforced concrete-steel construction
Ground area: 1230sqm.
Length(total): 52.50m.
Width(total): 20.00m.
Height: dome(inside) 26.40m.
dome(outside) 28.00m.
tower 45.00m.
Special Donations
Main Altar (Belgium)
Tabernacle (City of Bonn)
Communion Rail (Bavaria)
Baptistery (City of Aachen)
Bronze doors (City of Dusseldorf)
Grill of entrance and behind main altar (Westfalia)
Pipe organ (City of Cologne)
Four church bells (Bochumer Verein)
Church windows behind main altar (St. Ludwigs Missionverein, Munich)
Rose windows (Francis Xavier Verein, Aachen)
Stations of the Cross (City of Munster)
Large carved wooden Crucifix (City of Oberammergau)
Mosaic behind main altar (Former Chancellor of West Germany, Konrad Adenauer)
Church windows of the 15 mysteries of the Rosary (Various places of pilgrimage of the Blessed Virgin in Germany, Portugal, Mexico and other countries)
The 14 church windows in the Nave (Austria)
Tabernacle in the crypt (Spain)