The Cathedral of Saint Peter is the

mother church Mother church or matrice is a term depicting the Christian Church as a mother in her functions of nourishing and protecting the believer. It may also refer to the primary church of a Christian denomination or diocese, i.e. a cathedral or a metropo ...

of the Catholic Diocese of Rockford. It is the second church to serve the diocese as its

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 ...

History

The parish had its beginnings with the establishment of St. William's chapel in 1915. It was established as a mission of St. Mary's parish downtown. Property on the summit of Council Hill, also known as Piety Hill, was purchased in 1920 for a new parish. A combination church and school was built on Court Street beginning in 1921. The

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 ...

for the present church was blessed by Bishop Loras Lane in August 1958 and it was dedicated on May 15, 1960. Bishop

Arthur O'Neill Arthur Edward Bruce O'Neill (19 September 1876 – 6 November 1914), was an Irish Ulster Unionist Party politician who was the first Member of Parliament to be killed in World War I. Early life O'Neill was the second but eldest surviving son of ...

designated St. Peter's as the diocesan cathedral on October 11, 1970. St. James on North Second Street in Rockford had been the

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 ...

of the diocese from its foundation in 1908. Bishop Lane planned to construct a large pyramid-shaped cathedral, but his untimely death and the high projected construction costs doomed the project. What he had founded in 1962 as "Cathedral Parish" for the new cathedral was renamed Holy Family Parish. O'Neill formally consecrated St. Peter's on October 11, 1978. The present

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 ...

was consecrated by Cardinal

Francis George Francis Eugene George (January 16, 1937 – April 17, 2015) was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He was the eighth Archbishop of Chicago in Illinois (1997–2014) and previously served as bishop of the Diocese of Yakima and A ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

on September 29, 1998.

Pipe organ

St. Peter's houses a 1978 Wicks Organ Company pipe organ, Opus 5706. It is located in the rear gallery of the cathedral. Some of the pipes are exposed in the large case that frames a rose window. The organ features 5 divisions, 45 stops, 47 ranks, and 2,707 pipes. The manual compass is 61 notes and the pedal compass is 32 notes.

References

External links

Official Cathedral Site

Diocese of Rockford Official Site
{{Catholicism Christian organizations established in 1922 Roman Catholic churches completed in 1960 Churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockford Peter Rockford Churches in Winnebago County, Illinois Buildings and structures in Rockford, Illinois Italianate architecture in Illinois 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States Italianate church buildings in the United States

History

Pipe organ

See also

References

External links