The Cathedral Basilica of St. James is the

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

church of the

Diocese of Brooklyn The Diocese of Brooklyn is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in the U.S. state of New York. It is headquartered in Brooklyn and its territory encompasses the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. ...

. It is located at the corner of Jay Street and Cathedral Place in

Downtown Brooklyn Downtown Brooklyn is the third largest central business district in New York City after Midtown Manhattan and Lower Manhattan), and is located in the northwestern section of the borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is known for its office and ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

.Remigius Lafort, S.T.D., Censor,
The Catholic Church in the United States of America: Undertaken to Celebrate the Golden Jubilee of His Holiness, Pope Pius X. Volume 3: The Province of Baltimore and the Province of New York, Section 1: Comprising the Archdiocese of New York and the Diocese of Brooklyn, Buffalo and Ogdensburg Together with some Supplementary Articles on Religious Communities of Women.
'. (New York City: The Catholic Editing Company, 1914), p.534. It was built in 1903 and designed by George H. Streeton in the Neo-Georgian style.

History

The first church was built in 1822-1823 and dedicated to the patronage of St. James by Bishop John Connolly on August 28, 1823. It became the cathedral of Brooklyn when the diocese was established in 1853. Brooklyn's first bishop, John Loughlin planned a new cathedral dedicated to the patroness of the diocese, the

Immaculate Conception The Immaculate Conception is the belief that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception. It is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church, meaning that it is held to be a divinely revealed truth w ...

and its construction started in 1868 in

Fort Greene Fort Greene is a neighborhood in the northwestern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Flushing Avenue and the Brooklyn Navy Yard to the north, Flatbush Avenue Extension and Downtown Brooklyn to the west, ...

, at Green Street and Clermont Avenue. The cornerstone for the new cathedral was laid, and the walls built to a height of 10 to 20 feet before construction was stopped due to inadequate funds; of the planned complex, only a chapel (no longer extant) and the Bishop's residence (now LaSalle Hall of

Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School is a private, Roman Catholic, co-educational, college-preparatory high school located at 357 Clermont Avenue in the Ft. Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. The school serves students in grades 9 throu ...

) were completed.

New York Landmarks Preservation Commission The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and cu ...

br>"Fort Greene Historic District Designation Report"
(September 26, 1978) In 1896, Louglin's successor Bishop McDonnell designated a St. James Cathedral a

pro-cathedral A pro-cathedral or procathedral is a parish church that temporarily serves as the cathedral or co-cathedral of a diocese, or a church that has the same function in a Catholic missionary jurisdiction (such as an apostolic prefecture or apostoli ...

, anticipating the completion of Immaculate Conception. Although the current church on the original site was built in 1903, it did not become a cathedral again until 1972. The newly elected

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

visited in 1979, and formally designated it as a

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...

in 1982. While officially the cathedral for the diocese, many major ceremonies are held at larger churches because of St. James' small size. Accordingly, St. Joseph's Church in Prospect Heights was named co-cathedral for the diocese in 2013. The Rector of St. James' Cathedral Basilica is Father Bryan Patterson.

References

Notes

External links

Official Cathedral Site

Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn Official Site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cathedral Basilica Of St. James (Brooklyn) James (Brooklyn), Cathedral Basilica of St. Downtown Brooklyn James (Brooklyn), Cathedral Basilica of St. James (Brooklyn), Cathedral Basilica of St. Roman Catholic churches completed in 1903 Religious organizations established in 1822 1822 establishments in New York (state) Neoclassical architecture in New York City Cathedrals in New York City 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States Neoclassical church buildings in the United States

History

See also

References

External links