On November 4, 1838, the first Mass was celebrated at a small church dedicated to Sts. Peter and Paul. Within the next five years, the population of Catholics continued to grow and flourish. In 1844, a new diocese was formed with its see at Hartford, Connecticut. Its bishop, William Tyler, elected to reside in Providence, as the majority of Catholics lived there. As the number of Catholics in the region continued to grow, the Sts. Peter and Paul Church building could not accommodate the increasing numbers of Irish Catholic immigrants.[5]
By 1872, the Catholic population in the diocese grew to 200,000. Bishop Francis Patrick McFarland expressed interest in creating a new and larger cathedral but was unable to gain support within the diocese. Upon McFarland's request in 1871, for a reduced area to serve due to failing health, Pope Pius IX established the Diocese of Providence that encompassed Rhode Island, southeastern Massachusetts and Martha's Vineyard. In April 1872, Father Thomas Francis Hendricken became the first bishop of the new Diocese of Providence. The new diocese, at the time of its inception, recorded a Catholic population of 125,000; forty-three churches; fifty-three priests; six academies; nine parish schools with 4,225 students and one orphan asylum.
Just as his predecessor, Bishop Hendricken was also in favor of building a new cathedral church to replace the current decrepit and inadequate structure. However, before any construction could begin, the parish had to erase a $16,000 debt. Bishop Hendricken worked tirelessly to get the cathedral built and in 1872, he was able to retire the debt and begin preliminary construction planning.
In 1873, Patrick Keely was selected to draw the plans for one of the finest churches in the country. The following year, work on the foundation of a temporary church began when Bishop Hendricken signed a contract for the construction at a cost of $18,950. The old rectory was demolished and a new one built at the corner of Fenner and Pond Streets where it still stands.
Engraving published in 1886
The cornerstone of the current cathedral was laid in 1878. Bishop Hendricken set aside $10,000 each year toward the building of the new structure. He also mounted a series of fundraising campaigns to keep construction going as he would only permit work to proceed if money was available. By 1882, the roof was completed and work began on the interior. However, that year Bishop Hendricken's health began to fail. He died before the cathedral was completed and his funeral Mass was the first to be celebrated in the unfinished cathedral in 1886. At the time of his death, construction costs totaled $300,000. On June 30, 1889, more than a decade after construction began, the completed cathedral was finally consecrated by Bishop Matthew Harkins.[6] After nearly 80 years of use the cathedral underwent a major renovation beginning in 1968. Diocesan leaders intended to complete work in time for the 100th Anniversary of the founding of the diocese in 1972. The work was initiated by Bishop Russell J. McVinney, the 5th Bishop of Providence; however, like his predecessor, Bishop McVinney did not live to see the completion of the newly renovated cathedral as he died in August 1971.[7]
In 2006, the basement of the cathedral which holds the church hall was renovated to accommodate parish gatherings and diocesan functions. The basement crypt was dismantled and a new stone tomb was laid in the upper church as a final resting place for Bishop Hendricken. Church leaders believed that Bishop Hendricken deserved a more prominent place in the building, as the cathedral is considered his legacy. The other bishops buried in the crypt were moved to a cemetery in nearby Cranston.
Notable Masses
The cathedral's first funeral Mass was held on June 16, 1886, before the structure was even completed.[8] Providence's Bishop Thomas Francis Hendricken had been instrumental in raising support and funds for the cathedral's construction, even as his own health was failing.[8] Hendricken died before he could see the project to completion.[8]
On September 17, 2001, a memorial Mass was celebrated for Rhode Island native David Angell and his wife Lynn Edwards Angell who were passengers on American Airlines Flight 11 when it was flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. David Angell was a television writer and producer best known for his work on Cheers, Wings and Frasier. The Mass was celebrated by his older brother, the Most Rev. Kenneth Angell, Bishop of Burlington, VT.
A funeral Mass for former Providence mayor Buddy Cianci was held the morning of February 8, 2016, presided over by Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Joseph Tobin.[9]
Interior
Cathedral interior
The cathedral's interior is decorated in a Gothic revival style and bears close resemblance to Holy Name Cathedral, the seat of the Archdiocese of Chicago. The brownstone exterior is remarkably similar to the original Cathedral of St. Joseph in Hartford, CT, finished in 1889 (which burned in 1956). Famed 19th century church architect. Patrick Keely designed all three buildings [along with hundreds of others throughout the United States and Canada).
The tabernacle was cast in bronze by X. Corberro and Sons of Barcelona, Spain. The small finial ornament atop the tabernacle took some 58 hours to complete. The main altar is built of Verde Issoire, a green marble quarried in the French Alps. Green marble serves as decorative wainscoting along the walls and comprises the interior columns along the nave. The nave and transepts are capped by a ceiling of gothic vaulting and ribs of carved wood with the areas between the ribs painted in various scenes. Stained glass windows feature scenes from both the New and Old Testaments and are fashioned from antique Munich Glass as are the west rose window, east rose window and great circular window. The windows were created in the studios of the Tyrolese Art Glass Company of Innsbruck, Austria. A large granite sarcophagus rests in the west transept, containing the remains of Bishop Thomas Francis Hendricken, first Bishop of Providence.[10]
Exterior
The building is constructed of Connecticut Brownstone and is one of the more prominent pieces of architecture in the city of Providence. There are two 156ft (48m) towers which contain four church bells representative of the Four Evangelists: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. They were cast in a Dutch foundry and were dedicated in 1968 by the late Bishop McVinney.[10]
Cathedral Square
Cathedral Square in January 2018
Cathedral Square is a paved open public space in front of the cathedral. Between 1878 and World War II, the square was a bustling civic center of downtown Providence.[11] Shops and businesses lined the area, and church crowds numbered in the hundreds.[11] After the war, this center of civic life dwindled as people moved to the suburbs.[11]
In the late 1960s, the City of Providence hired up-and-coming architect I. M. Pei to redesign Cathedral Square as part of an ambitious larger plan to redesign downtown.[11] Pei's new plaza, modeled after the Greek Agora marketplaces, opened in 1972.[11] Unfortunately, the city ran out of money before Pei's vision could be completed.[11] Also, recent construction of a low-income housing complex and Interstate 95 had changed the neighborhood's character permanently.[11] In 1974, The Providence Evening Bulletin called the new plaza a 'conspicuous failure.'[11] By 2016, media reports characterized the plaza as a neglected, little-visited "hidden gem".[11]
Doyle statue
Postcard dated 1930 - 1945 shows the statue of Mayor Doyle in Cathedral Square.
A statue of Providence mayor Thomas A. Doyle was erected in Cathedral Square in 1889, and removed to the corner of Broad and Chestnut Street in 1967.[12]
Organ
The organ was built by the Casavant Frères company of Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, and was completed in July 1971. Designed by renowned American organ builder Lawrence Phelps, Casavant's Opus 3145 was installed in the ecclesiastical North (compass East) Transept at a cost of $217,500. It consists of four 56-key manuals, a 32-key pedalboard, 74 stops and 126 ranks. There are 6,616 pipes ranging from 6 inches to 32 feet in length. This is one of the largest mechanical action organs in North America and one of the largest ever built by Casavant Frères.[13][14][15]
Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral or in full Mary, Queen of the World and St. James the Great Cathedral is a minor basilica in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Montreal. It is the third largest church in Quebec after Saint Joseph's Oratory and the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré east of Quebec City. The building is 101 m (333 ft) in length, 46 m (150 ft) in width, and a maximum height of 77 m (252 ft) at the cupola, the diameter of which is 23 m (75 ft).
The Cathedral of Saint Paul is a Roman Catholic cathedral in the city of Saint Paul, Minnesota. It is the co-cathedral of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, along with the Basilica of Saint Mary in Minneapolis. One of the most distinctive cathedrals in the United States, it sits on Cathedral Hill overlooking downtown Saint Paul and features a distinctive copper-clad dome. It is dedicated to Paul the Apostle, who is also the namesake of the City of Saint Paul. The current building opened in 1915 as the fourth cathedral of the archdiocese to bear this name. On March 25, 2009, it was designated as the National Shrine of the Apostle Paul by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. It is the third-largest Catholic cathedral and sixth-largest church in the United States.
The Diocese of Providence is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in Rhode Island in the United States. The diocese was erected by Pope Pius IX on February 17, 1872.
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The Basilica-Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador is the metropolitan cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. John's, Newfoundland and the mother church and symbol of Roman Catholicism in Newfoundland. The building sits within the St. John's Ecclesiastical District, a National Historic District of Canada.
The Cathedral of St. Joseph in Hartford, Connecticut, United States, is the mother church and seat of the Archdiocese of Hartford. Dedicated on May 15, 1962, it stands on the site of the old cathedral which had been destroyed in a fire. It is located on Farmington Avenue just outside downtown Hartford.
Thomas Francis Hendricken was an Irish-born American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the first bishop of the Diocese of Providence in Rhode Island from 1872 until his death in 1886.
Patrick Charles Keely was an Irish-American architect based in Brooklyn, New York, and Providence, Rhode Island. He was a prolific designer of nearly 600 churches and hundreds of other institutional buildings for the Roman Catholic Church or Roman Catholic patrons in the eastern United States and Canada, particularly in New York City, Boston and Chicago in the later half of the 19th century. He designed every 19th-century Catholic cathedral in New England. Several other church and institutional architects began their careers in his firm.
St. Peter's Cathedral Basilica, is a church located at 196 Dufferin Avenue in London, Ontario, Canada in the Roman Catholic Diocese of London.
The Cathedral Basilica of Christ the King is a Roman Catholic church in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The cathedral was consecrated on December 19, 1933. It is the seat of the bishop of the Diocese of Hamilton, and the cathedral of the Diocese of Hamilton. The cathedral contains the cathedra of the bishop, the Most Rev. Douglas Crosby. The cathedral was raised to the status of a minor basilica in February 2013 by Pope Benedict XVI.
William Stang was a German-born American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the first bishop of the Diocese of Fall River in Massachusetts from 1904 until his death in 1907.
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Russell Joseph McVinney was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Providence in Rhode Island from 1948 until his death in 1971.
Kenneth Anthony Angell was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Burlington from 1992 to 2005. He previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Providence from 1974 to 1992.
Daniel Patrick Reilly was an American Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Norwich from 1975 to 1994 and as Bishop of Worcester from 1994 to 2004.
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The Roman Catholic St. Mary's Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption in Covington, Kentucky, is a minor basilica in the United States. Construction of the cathedral began under the Diocese of Covington's third bishop, Camillus Paul Maes, in 1895 to replace an 1834 frame church that was inadequate for the growing congregation. Pope Pius XII elevated the cathedral to the rank of minor basilica on December 8, 1953.
Saint John the Evangelist Catholic Church is a Catholic parish of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The parish's origins date to 1837, when it was first named Holy Cross parish. In 1850 it was renamed Saint John the Evangelist parish, and is the oldest Catholic parish in the city and in Marion County, Indiana. Considered the mother of the Catholic parishes in Indianapolis, it played an important role in development of the Catholic Church in the city. Saint John's Church served as the pro-cathedral of the diocese from 1878 until 1906; its rectory served as the bishop's residence and chancery from 1878 until 1892. In 1900 the church served as the site of first episcopal consecration held in Indianapolis.
St Peter and Paul's Old Cathedral is a heritage-listed former Catholic cathedral and now parish church at 42 Verner Street, Goulburn, Goulburn Mulwaree Council, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by Andrea Stombuco and Charles Spadacini and built from 1871 to 1890 by C. J. O'Brien and Wilkie Bros. It is also known as St. Peter and Paul's Former Cathedral and St Peter and Paul's Catholic Cathedral; Saints Peter and Paul's Catholic Cathedral. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 20 April 2009.
Jordy, William H.; Ronald J. Onorato; William McKenzie Woodward (2004). Buildings of Rhode Island. Oxford University Press. p.704. ISBN978-0-19-506147-5.
Schantz, Mark Saunders (2000). Piety in Providence: Class Dimensions of Religious Experience in Antebellum Rhode Island. Cornell University Press. p.280. ISBN978-0-8014-2952-1.
Conley, Patrick T.; Matthew J. Smith (1976). Catholicism in Rhode Island: The Formative Era. Diocese of Providence. p.173.
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