— The Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral celebrated its first Easter with a series of masses Sunday.

Easter Sunday at Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral in Raleigh brought together thousands of Catholics for one of the most important holidays in the Christian religion.

“It’s amazing to see this amount of people coming and celebrating the Lord has risen today,” parishioner Ella Kunu said. “It’s nice to see the amount of faith and people willing to come to church, especially with the times we’re going through at this moment.”

Sunday marked the first Easter for the church and for Bishop Luis Zarama, the new head of the Catholic Diocese of Raleigh.

“It’s beautiful. That is what we celebrate, the resurrection, the joy of the resurrection, the life of Jesus,” he said.

The $46 million cathedral off Western Boulevard was officially opened in July and seats 2,000 people. Easter Sunday masses had people spilling from the pews into the aisles and the back of the church.

“This has been a beautiful blessing for me to be here with a new cathedral, which has the right size to accommodate the growing population of the Catholic Church here in the diocese of Raleigh. It’s beautiful, it’s great,” Zarama said.

Many attended a Sunday mass because of tradition, some for the first time and others, like Jaime and Alyssa Schultz, for a very special reason.

“We were the first people to get married here. It’s our first time back since being away for work. It’s very sentimental,” Alyssa Schultz said.