Sacred Heart Catholic Church

This Romanesque church edifice was completed in 1905 for Tampa's Sacred Heart congregation. The congregation dates back to the 1850s and this location has been home to the church since the creation of a small frame church in 1859. That frame church was expanded in 1883. Following the arrival of the railroad a decade later, the city of Tampa was growing rapidly and the church's leadership began plans to build this grand structure with a ceremonial ground-breaking in 1898. Historical tours of the city of Tampa often include Sacred Heart Church.

Tampa has a long Catholic history that started when the Spanish arrived in the Tampa Bay area, but the first Catholic parish was not established in Hillsborough County until the 19th century. In 1859, a small church, named St. Louis Parish after King Louis IX of France, was built in the spot that the Sacred Heart Church stands today. The little church's early days were quite rough. A yellow fever epidemic in the late 1880s killed three pastors in one year, along with a good portion of the population of Tampa. After that the Jesuits, who had first introduced Catholicism to Florida's shore as missionaries in the 16th century, assumed control of the church. In 1905, due to the economic boom that Tampa was experiencing, the little St. Louis Parish church was demolished to make way for the much larger, granite and marble structure known as Sacred Heart Church.

The Sacred Heart Church is now under the care of the Franciscan Order, who took over the church in 2005. The Romanesque-style architecture of the church's exterior is exquisite in and of itself, but the granite arches, oak pews, and seventy beautiful stained glass windows of the interior turn it into a marvel, blending religion with art. The church continues to serve the religious needs of the community as it did when it was built in the 1900s. Mass still occurs within its walls, as well baptisms, the eucharist, and other sacraments. They also have youth and adult groups, and a choir. There is also a gift shop inside the church, and historical tours are led by period-costumed volunteer docents during the holiday season. 

"History." Sacred Heart Catholic Church. Accessed July 1, 2106. http://sacredheartfla.org/about-us/history.

Morelli, Keith. "Historic Tour of Tampa's Sacred Heart Catholic Church Draws Hundreds." Accessed July 1, 2016. http://www.tbo.com/events-tampa-bay/historic-tour-of-tampas-sacred-heart-catholic-church-draws-hundreds-20151227.

"Sacred Heart Church." The Historical Marker Database. Accessed November 22, 2023. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=37325.