Church-of-immaculate-conception-knoxville-tn2

The Roman Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception is a historic church located at 414 West Vine on Summit Hill in

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Tennessee, Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Di ...

. Knoxville was home to a small Roman Catholic congregation by the early 1800s. Father

Stephen Badin Reverend Fr. Stephen Theodore Badin (born Étienne Théodore Badin on July 17, 1768 – April 21, 1853) was the first Catholic priest ordained in the United States. He spent most of his long career ministering to widely dispersed Catholics in Cana ...

traveled to the city on several occasions to visit this congregation.I.P. Martin, Mary Rothrock (ed.), ''The French Broad-Holston Country: A History of Knox County, Tennessee'' (East Tennessee Historical Society, 1972), pp. 296-297. Railroad construction in the late 1840s and early 1850s brought scores of

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

immigrant laborers to the city, considerably boosting the congregation's numbers. The Church of the Immaculate Conception, the city's first Roman Catholic parish, was founded in 1855 on the site of the current church. The name of the church was inspired by

Pope Pius IX Pope Pius IX ( it, Pio IX, ''Pio Nono''; born Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878, the longest verified papal reign. He was notable for convoking the First Vatican ...

's elevation of

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 ...

to official church doctrine the previous year.The Story of Immaculate Conception Church
, ICKnoxville.org. Retrieved: 28 December 2013. Father

Abram Joseph Ryan Abram Joseph Ryan (February 5, 1838 – April 22, 1886) was an American poet, Catholic priest, Catholic newspaper editor, orator, and former Vincentian. An active proponent of the Confederate States of America, he has been called the "Poet-Priest ...

(1836–1886), the Poet-Priest of the Confederacy, was once a priest at this parish. He was the author of the ''Requiem of the Lost Cause,

The Conquered Banner "The Conquered Banner" was one of the most popular of the post-Civil War Confederate poems. It was written by Father Abram Joseph Ryan, a Roman Catholic priest and Confederate Army chaplain. He has been called the "poet laureate of the postwar sout ...

'', written soon after the surrender at Appomattox. The existing church sanctuary was constructed in 1886, in front of the earlier building. The brick church was designed by Joseph Baumann, who along with

George Franklin Barber George Franklin Barber (July 31, 1854 – February 17, 1915) was an American architect known for the house designs he marketed worldwide through mail-order catalogs. Barber was one of the most successful residential architects of the late Vi ...

was one of Knoxville's first major professional architects. The church was designed in the

Victorian Gothic 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 of architecture. The sanctuary is two stories tall, with a central clock tower in a turreted spire. The church remains a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

parish in the downtown portion of the city. However, Sacred Heart Cathedral in the west Knoxville community of Bearden is the seat of the Roman Catholic Bishop.

References

External links

Church of the Immaculate Conception website
Roman Catholic churches in Tennessee Roman Catholic Diocese of Knoxville Churches in Knoxville, Tennessee Roman Catholic churches completed in 1885 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States {{US-RC-church-stub

References

Further reading

External links