The Cathedral of Saint Joseph located in

Burlington, Vermont Burlington, officially the City of Burlington, is the List of municipalities in Vermont, most populous city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the county seat, seat of Chittenden County, Vermont, Chittenden County. It is located south of the Can ...

, United States, is the seat of the Catholic Diocese of Burlington. It served as the

co-cathedral A co-cathedral is a cathedral church which shares the function of being a bishop's seat, or ''cathedra'', with another cathedral, often in another city (usually a former see, anchor city of the metropolitan area or the civil capital). Instances o ...

of the diocese from 1999 to 2018 when it became the

cathedral church A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

following the closure of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Burlington.

History

Col. Archibald Hyde donated land for the first Catholic Church built in Burlington, which served both Irish and

French Canadian French Canadians, referred to as Canadiens mainly before the nineteenth century, are an ethnic group descended from French people, French colonists first arriving in Canada (New France), France's colony of Canada in 1608. The vast majority of ...

immigrants. The French-speaking members felt like second-class citizens in the predominantly Irish congregation. After raising the necessary funds and another donation of land, St. Joseph's parish was established as the first French Canadian parish in the United States in 1850. A church was constructed to serve the growing French-speaking Canadian population that had immigrated to the North End of Burlington during the mid-19th century. The present church building was designed in 1883 by Rev. Joseph Michaud who was a self-taught architect hailing from

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. He used the Chapel of the Palace of Versailles as his inspiration. The cornerstone was laid on July 4, 1884. It took four years to complete the structure, which relied on the labor and financial sacrifices of its parishioners. The church was dedicated on St. Jean the Baptist Day ( Fête de la Saint-Jean-Baptiste) on June 24, 1887, and blessed by the Archbishop of Montreal,

Édouard-Charles Fabre Édouard-Charles Fabre (; February 28, 1827 – December 30, 1896) was Bishop of Montréal in 1876 and first Archbishop of Montreal in 1886. Life Fabre was the eldest of 11 children in an important Montreal business family. His father Édou ...

. The church's seating capacity was designed to accommodate over 1,200 worshipers, and it remains the largest church in

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

. St. Joseph's has been renovated in 1920, 1968, and 2000–2001. It was named the co-cathedral for the Burlington diocese in 1999. Because of low attendance and finances, the process for merging the two Burlington Catholic cathedrals began in 2017. Sunday Masses were celebrated at St. Joseph, while Immaculate Conception had a weekday Mass at Noon and a monthly Mass in Vietnamese. The title to the Immaculate Conception property was transferred to St. Joseph Parish. In April 2018 Bishop Christopher Coyne decreed that St. Joseph was the sole diocesan cathedral, and later in the year relegated the Immaculate Conception building to secular use. On October 11, 2018, the Diocese of Burlington announced that it would sell the Immaculate Conception property. The last Mass was celebrated in Immaculate Conception Church on December 8, 2018.

Steeple

A violent storm in November 2010 damaged St. Joseph's steeple, and the top portion of it had to be removed in April of the following year. Repair crews had found that the structure had undergone severe deterioration and it was subsequently determined that the wrought-iron cross on top was at risk of toppling. The cross was placed into storage, while the lower sections of the steeple (e.g. the

belfry The belfry /ˈbɛlfri/ is a structure enclosing bells for ringing as part of a building, usually as part of a bell tower or steeple. It can also refer to the entire tower or building, particularly in continental Europe for such a tower attached ...

) required renovations costing about $200,000. Efforts to restore the steeple to its original height were delayed due to the estimated expense of $1 million, which the church could not afford. Through donations to the repair fund and the sale of the parish's school building in April 2018 the necessary funds became available. The project was completed in May 2019. File:StJosephsCoCathedralInterior 20151122.jpg, Cathedral interior File:StJosephsCoCathedralOrganPipes 20151122.jpg, Rear gallery and pipe organ File:StJosephsCoCathedralJesusStatue 20151122.jpg, Statue of Christ File:StJosephsCoCathedralAltar 20151122.jpg, Altar File:StJosephsCoCathedralCeilingEmblem1_20151122.jpg, Ceiling Emblem

References

External links

*
Official Cathedral SiteDiocese of Burlington Official Site
{{Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington, state=collapsed Churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington French-Canadian American history French-Canadian culture in Vermont Joseph (Burlington, Vermont) Churches in Burlington, Vermont Religious organizations established in 1850 Roman Catholic churches completed in 1887 1805 establishments in Vermont Baroque Revival architecture in the United States 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States

History

Steeple

See also

References

External links