The Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception (commonly known as St. Mary's Cathedral) is a

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 ...

of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

located in

Peoria, Illinois Peoria ( ) is the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and the largest city on the Illinois River. As of the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census, the city had a population of 113,150. It is the principal city of the Peoria ...

, United States. It is the seat of the

Diocese of Peoria The Diocese of Peoria ( la, Diœcesis Peoriensis, Peoria, Illinois) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in the central Illinois region of the United States. The Diocese of Peoria is a suffragan diocese w ...

, where the Catholic televangelist and sainthood candidate Archbishop

Fulton J. Sheen Fulton John Sheen (born Peter John Sheen, May 8, 1895 – December 9, 1979) was an American bishop of the Catholic Church known for his preaching and especially his work on television and radio. Ordained a priest of the Diocese of Peoria in ...

was born and raised, and ordained a priest. Since 2019, the cathedral has been his place of burial. The cathedral is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

as a

contributing property In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distri ...

in the North Side Historic District.

History

The first Mass in the vicinity of Peoria was celebrated at

Fort Crevecoeur Fort Crevecoeur ( French: ''Fort Crèvecœur'') was the first public building erected by Europeans within the boundaries of the modern state of Illinois and the first fort built in the West by the French. It was founded on the east bank of the ...

, across the

Illinois River The Illinois River ( mia, Inoka Siipiiwi) is a principal tributary of the Mississippi River and is approximately long. Located in the U.S. state of Illinois, it has a drainage basin of . The Illinois River begins at the confluence of the D ...

from the present city. The

Récollets The Recollects (french: Récollets) were a French reform branch of the Friars Minor, a Franciscan order. Denoted by their gray habits and pointed hoods, the Recollects took vows of poverty and devoted their lives to prayer, penance, and spirit ...

stationed at the fort included the Revs. Gabriel Ribourde,

Zenobius Membre Zenobius Membré, O.M.R. (1645 – c.1687), was a French Franciscan Recollect friar and missionary in North America. Life Membré was born at Bapaume, then in the ancient Province of Artois, and entered the local friary of the Franciscan Recollect ...

and

Louis Hennepin Father Louis Hennepin, O.F.M. baptized Antoine, (; 12 May 1626 – 5 December 1704) was a Belgian Roman Catholic priest and missionary of the Franciscan Recollet order (French: ''Récollets'') and an explorer of the interior of North Ameri ...

. Father Reho celebrated Mass in the city of Peoria in 1839, and the Rev. John A. Drew founded St. Mary's Church in 1846. The church that would become the first St. Mary's Cathedral was built in 1851.

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

architect Casper Mehler designed the present cathedral to reflect the style of St. Patrick's Cathedral in

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 ...

. The cornerstone was laid on June 28, 1885 by Bishop

John Lancaster Spalding John Lancaster Spalding (June 2, 1840 – August 25, 1916) was an American author, poet, advocate for higher education, the first bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Peoria from 1877 to 1908 and a co-founder of The Catholic University of Ameri ...

. Construction on the cathedral was completed in 1889. The exterior is composed of

Anamosa Limestone Anamosa Limestone or Anamosa Member is a dolomitic limestone quarried out of Stone City, Iowa, which is located along the Wapsipinicon River about two miles west of Anamosa, Iowa. It is distinguished by its uniform texture, color, and banding, its d ...

and the twin spires on the main

façade A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a Loanword, loan word from the French language, French (), which means 'frontage' or 'face'. In architecture, the façade of a building is often t ...

rise to a height of . The painting of the Crucifix on the

reredos A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a church. It often includes religious images. The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular architecture, for ex ...

behind the altar was painted in 1873 by the Spanish artist Yzquierda. It was purchased by Bishop Spalding and originally hung in the old cathedral. It and a bell in the south tower are all that remain of Old St. Mary's, which was taken down in 1898. The present

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks ...

Wicks Organ Company {{Primary sources, date=December 2016 The Wicks Organ Company is an organ manufacturer in Highland, Illinois in the United States where they build, repair, and restore organs. History The Wicks Organ Company was founded by Adolph Wick, John F. Wic ...

, Opus 1503, was installed in 1936. It features 3,329 pipes. The cathedral church and the neighboring Bishop's House, now used for other purposes, are among the

contributing properties In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distric ...

in the North Side Historic District added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. Saint Teresa of Calcutta, better known as

Mother Teresa Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu, MC (; 26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), better known as Mother Teresa ( sq, Nënë Tereza), was an Indian-Albanian Catholic nun who, in 1950, founded the Missionaries of Charity. Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu () was bo ...

, visited St. Mary's for a mass in her honor in 1995. The cathedral underwent a major renovation beginning in 2014 and finishing in 2016. The restoration and renovation work was performed by Daprato Rigali Studios. On June 27, 2019, the remains of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen were disinterred from St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York, where he was buried in 1979, and transferred to St. Mary's Cathedral. They are entombed in a marble monument at a side altar dedicated to

Our Lady of Perpetual Help Our Lady of Perpetual Help (also known as Our Lady of Perpetual Succour) is a Roman Catholic title of the Blessed Virgin Mary associated with a 15th-century Byzantine icon with an alleged Marian apparition. The icon is believed to have ori ...

. The

Archdiocese of New York The Archdiocese of New York ( la, Archidiœcesis Neo-Eboracensis) is an ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church ( particularly the Roman Catholic or Latin Church) located in the State of New York. It encompasses the boroug ...

fought a three-year court battle to keep his remains there. As a child, Sheen served as an altar boy in St. Mary's Cathedral and he was ordained a priest here in 1919 for the Diocese of Peoria, which has sponsored his cause for

canonization Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of ...

. File:Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception (Peoria, Illinois) - nave.jpg, View up the nave toward the chancel File:Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception (Peoria, Illinois) - nave, rear.jpg, View down the nave toward gallery File:Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception (Peoria, Illinois) - stained glass, arcade, Ave Maria.jpg, Stained glass window File:Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception (Peoria, Illinois) - cathedra.jpg, Cathedra File:Saint Mary's Cathedral rectory - Peoria, Illinois.JPG, St. Mary's Rectory, formerly the Diocesan Chancery

Interments

* Venerable Fulton J. Sheen

References

External links

Official Cathedral Site

Diocese of Peoria Official Site
{{Roman Catholic Diocese of Peoria, state=collapsed Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception (Peoria, Illinois) Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception (Peoria, Illinois) Churches in Peoria, Illinois Religious organizations established in 1846 Mary of the Immaculate Conception, Peoria Mary of the Immaculate Conception Cathedral, Peoria Gothic Revival church buildings in Illinois Tourist attractions in Peoria, Illinois Historic district contributing properties in Illinois 1846 establishments in Illinois National Register of Historic Places in Peoria County, Illinois

History

Interments

See also

References

External links