The Cathedral of St. Joseph in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

, United States, 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 metro ...

and seat of the

Archdiocese of Hartford The Archdiocese of Hartford is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Hartford, Litchfield and New Haven counties in the U.S. State of Connecticut. The archdiocese includes about 470,000 Catholics, more ...

. Dedicated on May 15, 1962, it stands on the site of the old

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 denomination ...

which had been destroyed in a fire. It is located on Farmington Avenue just outside downtown Hartford. In 1979, the cathedral was included as a

contributing property In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distri ...

in the Asylum Avenue District, 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 ...

History

Pope Gregory XVI Pope Gregory XVI ( la, Gregorius XVI; it, Gregorio XVI; born Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari; 18 September 1765 – 1 June 1846) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 2 February 1831 to his death in 1 June 1846. He h ...

established the states of

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

and

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

as the Diocese of Hartford in 1843. Because

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...

had a larger Catholic population, Bishop William Tyler chose to reside there instead of Hartford. His two successors did likewise. Bishop Francis McFarland petitioned to have the diocese divided. After the

Diocese of Providence The Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence ( la, Dioecesis Providentiensis) is a diocese of the Catholic Church in the United States. The diocese was erected by Pope Pius IX on February 17, 1872 and originally comprised the entire state of Rhode ...

was established in 1872, McFarland moved to Hartford where he bought the old Morgan estate for $75,000 for a cathedral, bishop's residence, and a motherhouse for the

Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute of Catholic women founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. As of 2019, the institute had about 6200 sisters worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations. They a ...

. The convent was built first and the chapel was used as a

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 apostolic ...

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

architect

Patrick Keely Patrick Charles Keely (August 9, 1816 — August 11, 1896) was an Irish-American architect based in Brooklyn, New York, and Providence, Rhode Island. He was a prolific designer of nearly 600 churches and hundreds of other institutional buildin ...

was hired to design the cathedral. Bishop

Thomas Galberry Thomas Galberry (May 28, 1833 – October 10, 1878) was an Irish Augustinian friar and the fourth Bishop of Hartford, Connecticut, serving from 1876 until his death in 1878. Biography Galberry was born in Naas, County Kildare, to Thomas and Marga ...

, O.S.A., McFarland's successor, laid the cornerstone on April 29, 1877. The basement was dedicated for church use the following year. After Bishop Lawrence McMahon liquidated the diocese's debt he was able to complete the original St. Joseph's Cathedral, which was consecrated on May 8, 1892. The

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 was cruciform in shape and its exterior was clad in Portland rough brownstone. Two towers that rose flanked the main facade. The interior featured an inlaid ceiling with wood from every country in the world, a rotunda with $100,000 worth of

gold leaf Gold leaf is gold that has been hammered into thin sheets (usually around 0.1 µm thick) by goldbeating and is often used for gilding. Gold leaf is available in a wide variety of karats and shades. The most commonly used gold is 22-kara ...

, a bishop's throne that was carved oak, a marble high altar, and 72

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 ...

. It was decorated with paintings and statues. Soil conditions necessitated renovations in 1938–1939 to stabilize the building. A fire destroyed the cathedral on December 31, 1956. Its cause was never determined. Structural engineers determined that the building could not be salvaged and the site was cleared. The

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

architectural firm of

Eggers & Higgins Eggers & Higgins was a New York architectural firm partnered by Otto Reinhold Eggers (August 4, 1882 – April 23, 1964) and Daniel Paul Higgins (September 12, 1886 – December 26, 1953). The architects were responsible for the construction phase ...

was chosen to design the present cathedral. On September 8, 1958, Archbishop Henry O'Brien presided over the formal groundbreaking. During construction, Sunday Masses were held in the auditorium of the Aetna Life Insurance Company building across the street and daily Masses were held in the school auditorium. Auxiliary Bishop John Hackett blessed the lower church on Christmas Eve 1960, and Archbishop O'Brien celebrated the first Mass later that night. Hackett laid 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 time ...

for the cathedral on October 3, 1961, while the archbishop consecrated the bells for the

carillon A carillon ( , ) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a keyboard and consists of at least 23 cast-bronze bells. The bells are hung in fixed suspension and tuned in chromatic order so that they can be sounded harmoniou ...

in 1961 and blessed the cross for the tower in 1962. Bishop Hackett consecrated the completed cathedral on May 15, 1962. It was built for about $10 million. An addition that included a new entrance off Asylum Avenue, an elevator, and restrooms was completed in 2016. Two years later the exterior was cleaned and repaired as the limestone was starting to deteriorate. Other projects that are planned as a part of the “Forward With Faith” capital campaign include repairing the front plaza; creation of Cathedral Square that includes a pedestrian mall, park, and public gardens; and renovating the lower level of the cathedral into educational and community meeting facilities, a dining area, and a

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be consid ...

. On October 31, 2020, the cathedral hosted the beatification mass for the Rev.

Michael J. McGivney Michael Joseph McGivney (August 12, 1852August 14, 1890) was an Irish-American Catholic priest based in New Haven, Connecticut. He founded the Knights of Columbus at a local parish to serve as a mutual aid and fraternal insurance organization, p ...

, who founded the

Knights of Columbus The Knights of Columbus (K of C) is a global Catholic fraternal service order founded by Michael J. McGivney on March 29, 1882. Membership is limited to practicing Catholic men. It is led by Patrick E. Kelly, the order's 14th Supreme Knight. ...

within the then Diocese of Hartford in 1882. A concurrent ceremony was held at St. Mary's Church in

New Haven, CT New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...

, where McGivney was assigned as an associate pastor.

Architecture

The cathedral was designed using an International style interpretation of the

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 ...

style, and maintained the verticality of the old cathedral. The structure is composed of reinforced concrete covered with smooth light gray coursed

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

. A large

frieze In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...

over the main entrance features the church's patron,

Saint Joseph Joseph (; el, Ἰωσήφ, translit=Ioséph) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who, according to the canonical Gospels, was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. The Gospels also name some brothers of ...

. The tall bronze doors weigh five and a half tons and are covered with biblical scenes. The cathedral rises to a height of . The blocks of stone used in the tall spire contrasts with the smooth stone of the walls. The "blocks are cut in a pattern of voids that causes a constant play of light and shadow." The bell chamber contains 12 bells cast in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Petit & Fritsen Royal Bellfounders Petit & Fritsen, located in Aarle-Rixtel, the Netherlands, is a former foundry, one of the oldest family-owned businesses in the Netherlands, with the foundry dating back to 1660. Petit & Fritsen was a foundry that cast bells f ...

. They range in weight from up to . The interior of the cathedral is noted for its large expanse of spectacular stained glass windows crafted in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. They are reminiscent of those found in Paris'

Sainte-Chapelle The Sainte-Chapelle (; en, Holy Chapel) is a royal chapel in the Gothic style, within the medieval Palais de la Cité, the residence of the Kings of France until the 14th century, on the Île de la Cité in the River Seine in Paris, France. Co ...

. Each panel is roughly and they are thick. The ceramic tile mural behind the altar depicting "Christ in Glory" is the largest in the world. The

narthex The narthex is an architectural element typical of early Christian and Byzantine basilicas and churches consisting of the entrance or lobby area, located at the west end of the nave, opposite the church's main altar. Traditionally the narthex ...

is separated from the main

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 ...

by a wall of glass etched by Giovanni Hajnal. It depicts the Kingdom of Christ both on earth and in heaven. The capacity of the cathedral is about 1,750 people not including the two side chapels. There are two main chapels on the side of the church. One contains a tabernacle and altar. It contains a mural of Jesus and his disciples. The chapel on the left has a mural depicting the

Holy Family The Holy Family consists of the Child Jesus, the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph. The subject became popular in art from the 1490s on, but veneration of the Holy Family was formally begun in the 17th century by Saint François de Laval, the first ...

and contains the baptismal font. Other small chapels are made of mosaic and contain kneelers for visitors.

Organ

The

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks ...

is the largest in Connecticut. The organ in the rear gallery was designed by the

Austin Organ Company Austin Organs, Inc., is a manufacturer of pipe organs based in Hartford, Connecticut. The company is one of the oldest continuously-operating organ manufacturers in the United States. The first instruments were built in 1893 with the Austin Patent ...

, which is based in Hartford. It has four manuals and includes six divisions, 81 stops, 95 registers, 114 ranks, and 6,878 pipes. The pipe organ in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel was also built by the Austin Organ Company, and it features three manuals, three divisions, 17 stops, 22 registers, 19 ranks, and 1,195 pipes. The organ has been used for many concerts.

Burials

Lawrence Stephen McMahon Lawrence Stephen McMahon (December 26, 1835 – August 21, 1893) was a Canadian-born prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Hartford from 1879 until his death in 1893. Biography Lawrence McMahon was born in St. John, New Bruns ...

, Fifth Bishop of Hartford

References

External links