The Cathedral of Saint Andrew in
Little Rock, Arkansas
(The Little Rock, The "Little Rock")
, government_type = council-manager government, Council-manager
, leader_title = List of mayors of Little Rock, Arkansas, Mayor
, leader_name = Frank Scott Jr.
, leader_ ...
, United States, is a historic church and the oldest place of continuing worship in the city. It is the seat of the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Little Rock. The property is located at the corner of South Louisiana Street and West 7th Street in downtown
Little Rock
( The "Little Rock")
, government_type = Council-manager
, leader_title = Mayor
, leader_name = Frank Scott Jr.
, leader_party = D
, leader_title2 = Council
, leader_name2 ...
.
History
The Rev. Peter Donnelly from the
Diocese of St. Louis celebrated 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 elementar ...
in Little Rock in a room over Dugan's Store at 2nd and Main Streets in 1830.
As the congregation grew they acquired a building for their use on East Markham near Third Street. The Rev. Joseph Richard Bole and Father Paris were sent to Little Rock to build a permanent church building in 1839 on the property where the Arcade Building was located on Louisiana between Sixth and Seventh Streets. Known as the Old French Church, it was dedicated by Bishop
Mathias Loras of the
Diocese of Dubuque, Iowa in 1841. The Diocese of Little Rock was established by
Pope Gregory XVI on November 28, 1843, with the Most Rev.
Andrew Byrne
Andrew J. Byrne (1802 – June 10, 1862) was an Irish-born American Catholic priest, who became the first bishop of the Diocese of Little Rock in Arkansas from 1844 until his death in 1862.
Biography
Early life
Andrew Byrne was born in 1802 ...
as the first bishop.
Bishop Byrne established the first St. Andrew's Cathedral at Second and Center Streets in 1845.
As the congregation grew a new cathedral was needed. The
cornerstone for the present cathedral was laid by Bishop
Edward Fitzgerald on July 7, 1878. The church was dedicated on November 27, 1881. It was designed by Little Rock architect Thomas Harding and cost $470,000 to build.
The tallest tower on the
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 ...
of the building was completed in 1887.
A
tornado
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...
struck downtown Little Rock in 1950 and toppled the cross on top of the tower. It also destroyed two of the
stained glass windows
Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...
. The present rectory was built in 1966. St. Andrew's Cathedral was 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 ...
in 1986.
Architecture
The Cathedral of St. Andrew is a
Gothic Revival
Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
style structure that was built of native
granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
.
[ The church measures in length and its ]nave
The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...
is wide.[ The façade features two towers, the tallest of which is crowned with a spire and rises above the ground. The interior is finished in Southern yellow pine and features a marble ]high 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 paganis ...
that is decorated with onyx and other precious stones.
See also
*List of Catholic cathedrals in the United States
The following is a list of the Catholic cathedrals in the United States. The Catholic Church in the United States comprises ecclesiastical territories called dioceses led by prelate bishops. Each bishop is assigned to a cathedral from which he ...
* List of cathedrals in the United States
*
References
External links
Official Cathedral Site
Roman Catholic Diocese of Little Rock Official Site
{{NRHP
Religious organizations established in 1845
Roman Catholic churches completed in 1881
Churches in Little Rock, Arkansas
Andrew, Little Rock
Churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Little Rock
Gothic Revival church buildings in Arkansas
Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Arkansas
National Register of Historic Places in Little Rock, Arkansas
1845 establishments in Arkansas
19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States