he cathedral later opened in 1903, a year after Bentley's death. One of the first public liturgies to be celebrated was Cardinal Vaughan's Requiem Mass; the Cardinal died on 19 June 1903. When the debt on the building fund was liquidated, consecration ceremony took place on 28 June 1910. Under the laws of the Catholic Church, no place of worship could be consecrated unless free from debt. The decoration of the interior had hardly been started at the time of consecration, as the decoration in Byzantine churches is applied, rather than integral to the architecture. Therefore finishing the decoration of the cathedral was left to the subsequent generations. It is an architectural gem with its interior notable for rich marble decorations and the beautiful, but still incomplete, mosaics. In 1895, the cathedral was dedicated to the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ. This is commemorated by the Latin dedication above the portal tympanum: Latin: Domine Jesus Rex et Redemptor per Sanguinem tuum salva nos (English: "Lord Jesus, King and Redeemer, save us through your blood"). The Feast of the Dedication of the Cathedral is celebrated each year on 1 July, which from 1849 until the Second Vatican Council (1969) was the feast of the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The additional co-patrons are the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph, Saint Peter, Saint Augustine of Canterbury, Saint Patrick, along with all remaining Catholic saints of Britain and Ireland. In 1977, as part of her Silver Jubil
