Cathedral of Saint Paul | |
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44°56′48″N93°5′45″W / 44.94667°N 93.09583°W | |
Country | United States |
Denomination | Catholic Church |
Sui iuris church | Latin Church |
History | |
Status |
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Architecture | |
Functional status | Demolished |
Previous cathedrals | First |
Years built | 1851 |
Demolished | August 1889 |
Specifications | |
Capacity | 500 |
Length | 84 ft (26 m) |
Width | 44 ft (13 m) |
The second Cathedral of Saint Paul was a building that served as the Catholic cathedral of the Diocese of Saint Paul in Minnesota from 1851 to 1858. Almost immediately recognized as being insufficient, planning for a third cathedral began shortly after construction was completed. Until its demolition in 1889, the three-story building also served as the Cathedral School, predecessor of Cretin High School.
When Joseph Crétin was appointed as the bishop of the newly established Diocese of St. Paul in July 1851, a log chapel served as the first cathedral. However, even prior to Crétin's arrival, Father Augustin Ravoux urged him to purchase land for a new cathedral to serve the fast-growing population of Saint Paul as the log chapel was proving too small. Ravoux ended up buying twenty-two lots at the intersection of Wabasha and Sixth streets for $900 ($32,962 in 2023) for the purpose of building the new cathedral. [1] : 5 [2] : 58
Crétin was initially hesitant to accept consecration as bishop of the new Diocese of Saint Paul because of the financial outlay required to build a cathedral. [1] : 6 Only a small amount could be raised from the poor immigrants of the area. [1] : 9 Crétin asked for assistance from the Society for the Propagation of the Faith but, receiving little help, went to Europe to ask for more funds. [1] : 7 A portion of the money came from Crétin's own paternal estate. [3] [1] : 10 The original plan called for two buildings, a church and a residence, but the lack of funding required the one building to be a combined church and school. [1] : 8 The laying of the cornerstone, carried out according to the form in the Roman Ritual, took place on July 27, 1851. [3] The foundation and lower walls of the first floor were made of native Minnesota limestone quarried from nearby, while the remaining floors were made of brick. [1] : 11
The new building was three stories, and 84 by 44 feet (26 by 13 m). Parallel to Sixth Street and with the front entrance facing Wabasha Street, [4] it opened in November 1851 with a library, kitchen, and school facilities on the first floor; the church itself on the second floor; and on the third floor, offices and living quarters for Crétin, his staff, and seminarians. [5] [2] : 77, 581 [1] : 17 It was one of the first brick buildings in Saint Paul. [1] : 12
The building was often referred to simply as the new Catholic school, without consideration of the building as a church. [1] : 13 Education of girls began in November 1851, with the boys school opening in December. [1] : 13 Crétin began education of seminarians in early 1853, selecting two boys, John Ireland and Thomas O'Gorman, out of the regular school. [1] : 24 In the summer of 1853, Augustin Ravoux brought them to France to continue their educations and returned in 1854 with seven more seminarians, four French and three German, who then were educated at the cathedral school. [1] : 25 [2] : 90, 99
The second floor on which Mass was said was sparse. Crétin said "the diocese has not even any church for a cathedral" and "I cannot apply that name [of Catholic Church] to the large room where we say Mass". [1] : 13 Only around 500 people could fit in the pews, even when extra benches were placed out. There were four confessionals in the walls, arranged so that the confessor sat in the sacristy and the penitent knelt in the sanctuary. [1] : 15 Ravoux feared that many souls were being lost because of the small capacity of the hall. [1] : 43
With the edifice still too small and not dignified enough for the needs of the diocese, Crétin started plans for a third cathedral in 1853. [5] [2] : 58, 77, 581 The second cathedral building would serve as such until 1858, when the third cathedral was completed. [4]
After the building was no longer the cathedral, it still served as a school. [4] In 1862 or 1863, Bishop Thomas Grace opened the Ecclesiastical Preparatory Seminary of St. Paul in the building. Twenty seminarians were educated in this way on the second floor until the seminary merged with the coeducational cathedral school on the first floor in 1867. [2] : 159 [6] : 190 [1] : 46 This school, while formally known as Cathedral High School, was informally known as Cretin's School. [6] : 359
Father John Ireland, rector of the cathedral, had long been asking for the Christian Brothers to come operate the Cathedral School. In 1871, after the Great Chicago Fire destroyed two Christian Brothers schools, two brothers moved to Minnesota and took charge of the institution. [6] : 358 A fire severely damaged the building in November 1886. [6] : 358 The damage was repaired, but in March 1889 the education of students was moved to a new location on Sixth and Main Streets. [1] : 47 While still officially known as Cathedral School, the relocated institution would often be called Cretin Hall (after the school auditorium), or just referred to as the Catholic High School. In 1914, the institution formally became Cretin High School. [7] [6] : 359
No longer used as either cathedral or school, the second cathedral was torn down in August 1889. [1] : 48
Mathias Loras was a French Catholic priest and slave owner in the United States who served as the first Bishop of Dubuque, in what would become the state of Iowa. He was the first president of Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama, from 1830 to 1832, and is the founder of what is now known as Loras College in Dubuque.
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 Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Catholic Church in the United States. It is led by an archbishop who administers the archdiocese from the cities of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. The archbishop has both a cathedral and co-cathedral: the mother church – the Cathedral of Saint Paul in Saint Paul, and the co-cathedral, the Basilica of Saint Mary in Minneapolis.
Joseph Crétin was an American Catholic prelate who was the first Roman Catholic Bishop of Saint Paul, Minnesota. Cretin Avenue in St. Paul, Cretin-Derham Hall High School, and Cretin Hall at the University of St. Thomas are named for him.
Thomas Langdon Grace was an American prelate who served as the second Roman Catholic Bishop of Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Cretin-Derham Hall High School (CDH) is a private, co-educational Catholic high school in Saint Paul, Minnesota operated by the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. It is co-sponsored by the Brothers of the Christian Schools and the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet.
The Diocese of Saint Cloud is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in central Minnesota in the United States. It is a suffragan diocese of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.
St. Peter's Catholic Church in Mendota Heights is the oldest church in continuous use in the U.S. state of Minnesota. Established as a community in 1840, a log church was built in 1842, and the still-standing historic church was constructed in 1853. A modern parish building now serves as the worship site for the community, but the historic church is still used for various liturgies.
Guardian Angels Catholic Church is a historic church located in Chaska, Minnesota founded in 1858. A Roman Catholic church, Guardian Angels is part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.
The Saint Paul Seminary (SPS) is a Catholic major seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. A part of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, SPS prepares men to enter the priesthood and permanent diaconate, and educates lay men and women on Catholic theology.
James McGolrick was an Irish-born American prelate of the Catholic Church. He was the first bishop of the Diocese of Duluth in Minnesota, serving from 1889 until his death.
Augustin Magloire Alexandre Blanchet was a French Canadian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the first bishop of the now-defunct Diocese of Walla Walla and of the Diocese of Nesqually in present-day Washington.
James Trobec was a Slovenian-born American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as the third Bishop of Saint Cloud from 1897 to 1914.
Thomas O'Gorman was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Sioux Falls from 1896 until his death in 1921.
Jean-Antoine-Marie Pelamourgues (1811–1875) was a French missionary who was one of the first Roman Catholic priests to serve in the Diocese of Dubuque in the state of Iowa. He served as the first pastor of St. Anthony's Church in Davenport, Iowa from 1839 to 1868.
Augustin Ravoux was a French priest and missionary who served in the area preceding Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, in Minnesota.
Nazareth Hall Preparatory Seminary, known familiarly as Naz Hall, was a high school seminary in Arden Hills, Minnesota, United States, serving the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. Founded in 1923 by Archbishop Austin Dowling, for most of its time Nazareth Hall educated students through four years of high school and the first two years of college. Over 600 alumni were eventually ordained to the priesthood. Due to declining enrollment and changing attitudes towards high school seminaries after the Second Vatican Council, it closed in 1970 with its collegiate functions being replaced by Saint John Vianney Seminary. The campus was sold and is now the site of the University of Northwestern.
The Chapel of Saint Paul, which later served as the first Cathedral of Saint Paul, was a log chapel built on the bluffs of the Mississippi River in 1841 by Lucien Galtier. It served as the first cathedral of the Catholic Diocese of Saint Paul from June 1851 to December 1851. It was also used as a school until it was eventually dismantled. While the building only stood for around two decades, it left a lasting impact as the eponym of the capital city of Minnesota, Saint Paul.
The third Cathedral of Saint Paul was a Catholic cathedral in Saint Paul, Minnesota, built from 1854 to 1858. It served as the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul from 1858 to 1914.
Calvary Cemetery is a Catholic cemetery in Saint Paul, Minnesota, established in 1856.