The Cathedral of Saint Peter is the mother church of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington The Diocese of Wilmington ( la, Dioecesis Wilmingtoniensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in the eastern United States and comprises the entire state of Delaware and the Eastern Shore of Maryland (i.e ...

. Located on West 6th Street in

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington (Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christina ...

. the cathedral is in the Quaker Hill Historic District of the city.

Architectural history

Founding

Saint Peter's Church was designed in 1816 by Pierre Bauduy, planner of the Wilmington town hall. The church

cornerstone The cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure. Over tim ...

was laid in 1816; the 30- by 40-foot (9.1- by 12-meter) Romanesque-style building was executed in brick. Saint Peter's was dedicated on September 12, 1818. The first

mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...

was celebrated by Father Patrick Kenny on September 13, 1818. In 1829, the congregation installed a bell tower on Saint Peter's and expanded the structure to it current length of .

1868 to 1905 renovations

In 1868, Pope Pius IX erected the Diocese of Wilmington. This action prompted the new diocese to prepare Saint Peter's for consecration as 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 denominatio ...

. Starting in 1870, the diocese added frescoes, a marble

baptistery In Christian architecture the baptistery or baptistry (Old French ''baptisterie''; Latin ''baptisterium''; Greek , 'bathing-place, baptistery', from , baptízein, 'to baptize') is the separate centrally planned structure surrounding the baptismal ...

, three

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...

s, a

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ov ...

railing, a barrel-domed roof, and a bishop's cathedra to the church. The church's Munich-style stained glass was added around 1900. The stained glass was probably created by Franz Xavier Zettler, master glass painter to the Royal Court of Bavaria or by his pupil, Franz Mayer.

Pro-cathedral designation

When the church upgrades were finished in 1905, St. Peter's was ready to be consecrated as a cathedral by the apostolic delegate, Archbishop

Diomede Falconio Diomede Angelo Raffaele Gennaro Falconio, O.F.M. (20 September 1842 – 8 February 1917) was an Italian Cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as Prefect of the Congregation for Religious from 1916 until his death, and was elevated to ...

. However, when Falconio arrived onsite, he saw that Saint Peter's was joined to a rectory and a school. According to

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...

policies, a cathedral had to be a free-standing building. Falconio instead designated Saint Peter's as 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 ...

, a church serving temporarily as a cathedral. The diocese eventually upgraded Saint Peter's and it was consecrated as a cathedral.

1981 and 1991 renovations

The diocese renovated Saint Peter's in 1981 to repair structural damage and to modify the

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a sa ...

to meet liturgical changes after the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions), each lasting between 8 and ...

. Contractors added

flying buttress The flying buttress (''arc-boutant'', arch buttress) is a specific form of buttress composed of an arch that extends from the upper portion of a wall to a pier of great mass, in order to convey lateral forces to the ground that are necessary to pu ...

es to support the

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building wi ...

walls in 1991, along with a steel substructure for the pillars and

choir loft A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...

2007 renovations

By 2007, new structural problems had arisen at Saint Peter's. A plaster rosette fell from the ceiling into one of the pews. Leaks in the roof were spotted. The diocese also wanted to fix a problem from earlier construction work. Previous renovations had added two floor-to-ceiling metal poles to fortify the arches leading into the side chapels. These poles now blocked the view of the tabernacle in its new location in the cathedral. Thanks to a grant from the Catholic Diocese Foundation, the diocese was able to replace the roof while keeping the cathedral open for worship. With the assistance of the cathedral's rector, Father Joseph Cocucci, the diocese undertook further renovations at Saint Peter's: * The cathedra was moved to the side of the sanctuary * The tabernacle was moved back to the center behind the altar. * A shrine to

Mary, mother of Jesus Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

was created that was accessible to those with

physical disabilities A physical disability is a limitation on a person's physical functioning, mobility, dexterity or stamina. Other physical disabilities include impairments which limit other facets of daily living, such as respiratory disorders, blindness, epileps ...

* The baptismal font was positioned near the cathedral entrance. On November 22, 2007, in a Thanksgiving Day service at Saint Peter's, Bishop Michael Saltarelli thanked Father Cocucci "for putting the Blessed Sacrament in His proper place and for putting the bishop in his proper place."

Rectors

The cathedral parish of Saint Peter has had sixteen rectors since its founding in 1804: #Rev. Patrick Kenny (1804–1840) #Rev. Patrick Reilly (1840–1850) #Rev. Jeremiah O'Donohoe (1851–1855) #Rev. Patrick Prendergast (1855–1859) #Rev. Patrick O'Brien (1859–1867) #Rev. Matthew McGrane (1867–1868) #Most Rev. Thomas A. Becker (1868–1886) #Msgr. John Lyons (1887–1916) #Msgr. John J. Dougherty (1916–1948) #Msgr. Joseph Sweeney (1949–1968) #Rev. John P. McLaughlin (1968–1977) #Rev. James E. Richardson (1977–1982) #Msgr. Paul J. Taggart (1982–1994) #Rev. William B. Kauffman (1995–2001) #Rev. Michael J. Carrier (2001–2005) #Rev. Joseph M. P. R. Cocucci (2006–present)

References

External links

Official Cathedral SiteRoman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington Official Site
{{NRHP Peter Wilmington Roman Catholic churches in Wilmington, Delaware Roman Catholic churches completed in 1818 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States Historic district contributing properties in Delaware National Register of Historic Places in Wilmington, Delaware Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Delaware Cathedrals in Delaware 1818 establishments in Delaware