St. Mary's Cathedral Basilica (Galveston)

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Exterior of the cathedral
inner space

The Cathedral Basilica of St. Mary ( English St. Mary Cathedral Basilica ) is a Roman Catholic church in the port city of Galveston in the US state of Texas . The St. Mary's Church is the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston and carries the title of a Minor Basilica . The neo-Gothic church from 1848 is listed as a cultural monument on the National Register of Historic Places and a Texas Historic Landmark.

history

Rev. John Odin CM came to the Galveston Catholic Ward in 1841. There he collected money for the construction of a wooden frame church with a length of 6.7 meters. On February 6, 1842, a month before he was ordained bishop as Vicar Apostolic of Texas, Odin consecrated the completed structure to the Blessed Virgin Mary . The small, rectangular building was furnished with thirty benches and a sacristy and served as a cathedral.

To build a larger and more permanent church, Bishop Odin bought 500,000 bricks from Belgium, which were shipped to Galveston as ballast. The laying of the foundation stone took place on Sunday, March 14, 1847. On May 4, 1847, Pope Pius IX. the Vicariate Apostolic of Texas to the Diocese of Galveston and appointed Odin first bishop. The cathedral was consecrated on November 26, 1848. The cathedral is one of the few buildings in Galveston that survived the devastating Galveston Hurricane in 1900 with only minor damage.

Due to the enormous growth of the city of Houston, the diocese was renamed Galveston-Houston in 1959 and a co-cathedral in Houston. St. Mary's Cathedral was named a Texas State Historic Landmark in 1968 and a National Historic Landmark in 1973. In 1979 Pope John Paul II granted St. Mary's Cathedral the status of a minor basilica because of its historical significance. After Hurricane Ike 2008, the restoration could only be completed after six years with the reopening. At that time she became part of the parish of the Holy Family.

architecture

The cathedral was built in neo-Gothic style by architects Theodore Eugene Giraud and later Nicholas J. Clayton. The three-aisled basilica offers space for over 400 visitors on a cross-shaped floor plan with a length of 40 meters and a width of up to 23 meters. Its three church towers above the entrance and the apse rise up to 24 meters.

Web links

Commons : St. Mary's Cathedral Basilica  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ St. Mary Cathedral Basilica on gcatholic.org (English)
  2. ↑ Entry in the National Register Information System . National Park Service , accessed November 14, 2019
  3. ↑ a b c St. Mary Cathedral Basilica (English)
  4. ↑ After almost six-year closure, Ike-devastated Galveston cathedral to reopen with Easter Mass. In: Houston Chronicle. April 19, 2014, accessed November 14, 2019 .

Coordinates: 29 ° 18 '14.8 "  N , 94 ° 47' 25.9"  W.