The Cathedral of San Agustin ( es, Catedral de San Agustín) is the seat of the Catholic Diocese of Laredo, Texas. It is located at 201 San Agustin Avenue in the heart of the downtown area in the

San Agustin Historical District The San Agustin de Laredo Historic District is a historical district that covers what was once the original city of Laredo, Texas that was established by Don Tomás Sánchez. Today, the district is located in Downtown Laredo. The San Agustin D ...

. The present church building dates from 1872. The bishop is

James Anthony Tamayo James Anthony Tamayo (born October 23, 1949) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He has been serving as bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Laredo, Diocese of Laredo in Texas since 2000. He previously served as an auxiliar ...

. As of 2000, the cathedral was the mother church for 289,415 Catholics in the diocese.

History

The Villa de San Agustin de Laredo was established in 1755. Its founding residents wanted a Catholic church for a place of worship. The Bishop of Guadalajara, Francisco de San Buena Ventura, ordered the construction of a small mission chapel in 1760 which was the only place of worship until 1778. In 1778, the first stone structure was erected to accommodate more than two hundred families. In 1789, San Agustin was established as a parish by the Bishop of Guadalajara. In 1848 Bishop John M. Odin of the Diocese of Galveston assigned several French priests to this part of his territory. Among them was Allophone Martin Souchon who in 1866 began the construction of the present church. San Agustin Church 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 ...

structure with a five-story- 141 ft (43m) bell /

clock tower Clock towers are a specific type of structure which house a turret clock and have one or more clock faces on the upper exterior walls. Many clock towers are freestanding structures but they can also adjoin or be located on top of another buildi ...

. All the windows have the traditional Gothic shape with

stained glass 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 ...

located between structural bays of its masonry walls. A French priest, Pierre Yves Keralum, was the designer and architect for this historical monument. The new church was opened on December 12, 1872. From 1989 to 1994 the San Agustin Church

Historical Preservation and Restoration Society History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as we ...

carried out a US$675,000 restoration project. A new Blessed Sacrament Chapel was installed. The whole church was repaired and restored and a brick plaza was created along the front of the church. In 2000 the

Diocese of Laredo The Roman Catholic Diocese of Laredo ( la, Dioecesis Laredanus, es, Diócesis de Laredo) is a Roman Catholic diocese located in Laredo, Texas. It was founded on July 3, 2000. The San Agustin Cathedral is the Mother Church of the Diocese of La ...

was established and the San Agustin Church was made its cathedral by order of Pope John Paul II. Today, the San Agustin Cathedral is one of the oldest in the Southwest still standing. It is also the second tallest building in Laredo. The San Agustin de Laredo Historic District is in the National Register of Historical Places.National Register of Historical Places
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References

External links

Official Cathedral Site

Diocese of Laredo Official Site
{{NRHP Agustin, Cathedral of Buildings and structures in Laredo, Texas Clock towers in Texas Roman Catholic churches completed in 1872 Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Texas Historic district contributing properties in Texas Recorded Texas Historic Landmarks National Register of Historic Places in Webb County, Texas 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States

History

See also

References

External links