The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter the Apostle is the seat of the

Bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Jackson The Roman Catholic Diocese of Jackson is a diocese in the ecclesiastical province of Mobile, in the southern United States of America. Its ecclesiastical jurisdiction includes the northern and central parts of the state of Mississippi, an a ...

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

. The cathedral is named for

Saint Peter ) (Simeon, Simon) , birth_date = , birth_place = Bethsaida, Gaulanitis, Syria, Roman Empire , death_date = Between AD 64–68 , death_place = probably Vatican Hill, Rome, Italia, Roman Empire , parents = John (or Jonah; Jona) , occupat ...

the Apostle.

History

The Diocese of Natchez was created July 28, 1837, and included all of Mississippi. In 1841, Bishop

John J. Chanche John Mary Joseph Benedict Chanche, Society of Saint-Sulpice, S.S., (October 4, 1795 – July 22, 1852) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the first bishop Roman Catholic Diocese of Jackson, Diocese of Natchez in M ...

arrived in Natchez and set out to construct parishes. The Mississippi legislature granted land to several congregations in Jackson and Bishop Chanche dedicated the new Catholic church at Court and President Streets to Saint Peter the Apostle on August 23, 1846. The wood-frame church was burned during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

by General William Tecumseh Sherman in 1862 and the congregation met in various locations around the city. A second structure also burned. Work on the current structure began in 1897 and it was dedicated June 3, 1900. It is constructed in a modified

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

design of brick with a cruciform floor plan. The front facade features a square tower topped with a spire that reaches a height of . In 1948, the administrative center of the Diocese of Natchez was transferred to Jackson and the see was renamed the Diocese of Natchez-Jackson. In February 1957, the church was raised to the rank of co-cathedral and when part of the territory was split to form the Diocese of Biloxi in 1977, St. Peter's was named as cathedral of the Diocese of Jackson. In 1987, the church's

Kilgen Kilgen was a prominent American builder of organs which was in business from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century. History The Kilgen family The Kilgen family's history of organ making supposedly dates to the 17th century, when Sebastian Kilgen, ...

organ was replaced with a two-manual/25 stop (38 rank) instrument by

Rieger Orgelbau Rieger Orgelbau is an Austrian firm of organ builders, known generally as Rieger. The firm was founded by Franz Rieger. From 1873 it was known as Rieger & Söhne, and from 1879 as Gebrüder Rieger, after his sons took over. At the end of World Wa ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. The organ is dedicated to the memory of Bishop Joseph Brunini, who served from 1968 to 1984. The cathedral was renovated in the 1980s, and in 1998, an activities building to house offices, a parish hall and classrooms was added in a style that blends with the design of the church. In 2010, the church underwent major renovations. The steeple was rebuilt and sheathed in copper and slate, and capped with a new cross. The roof of the main building was repaired and brick was tuckpointed. Stained glass windows and their frames were cleaned, sealed and covered with protective glass and electrical and sound systems were upgraded. Earlier inspections of the tower and steeple revealed dry rot, leaks, termite damage and other structural problems which were made worse by damage sustained during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The Cathedral of Saint Peter the Apostle is the seat of the Bishop of Jackson, Mississippi, and holds daily and weekly masses in English and Spanish.

Gallery

A gallery of photographs of the 2008 Midnight mass at The Cathedral of Saint Peter the Apostle File:BishopLatino01.jpg, Procession Image:FatherBrian01.jpg, Book of the Gospels Image:BishopLatino07.jpg, Eucharistic Prayer

Notes

References

*
Diocese of Jackson
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Yahoo Travel
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External links

Official Cathedral Site

Diocese of Jackson Official Site
{{Roman Catholic Diocese of Jackson, state=collapsed Religious buildings and structures in Jackson, Mississippi Gothic Revival church buildings in Mississippi Religious organizations established in 1846 Peter, Za Catholic Church in Mississippi Roman Catholic churches completed in 1900 Roman Catholic Diocese of Jackson 1846 establishments in Mississippi Churches in Hinds County, Mississippi 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States

History

Gallery

See also

Notes

References

External links