Holy Family Chapel and St. Jerome Mausoleum were dedicated and blessed by Bishop Douglas Deshotel on Pentecost Sunday, June 8, 2025, during the Jubilee Year. The celebration also marked the 75th priesthood anniversary of Fr. Jerome Frey, founder of the Community of Jesus Crucified. Both new chapels adjoin Mater Dolorosa Chapel, dedicated on September 15, 2008.
The chapels feature six stained-glass windows nearly a century old, crafted in Munich by Mayer Glassworks and acquired from the Archdiocese of Boston. Originally adorning St. Matthew Convent, where the Sisters of St. Joseph taught for over 100 years, the windows depict scenes from the lives of St. Joseph, St. Matthew, the Holy Family, and the Sisters of St. Joseph.
Constructed with granite floors and walls, the chapels house an altar nearly 200 years old from Belgium. The altar was widened using centuries-old red cypress salvaged from decommissioned Mississippi River steamships and prepared for the 2024 Fête-Dieu du Mississippi. It contains martyrs’ relics, is covered in Carrara marble, and supports the world’s largest monstrance—14½ feet tall with a seven-foot diameter along with the towering 17½-foot crucifix featuring an ivory corpus from Northern France.
The tabernacle, designed to hold the unusually large 18-inch luna incorporates an antique Italian bronze door and granite cladding. Statues of St. Joseph and Mary, from a life-size Nativity scene in the Netherlands, now depict them in Eucharistic adoration. The chapel is illuminated by restored ceiling lights from Immaculate Conception Chapel at Notre Dame Seminary.
