The Cathedral of Saint Peter is the mother church of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington The Diocese of Wilmington () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory – or diocese, of the Catholic Church in the eastern United States. The diocese comprises the entire state of Delaware and the Eastern Shore Region of Maryland. On Thursd ...

. Located on West 6th Street in

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...

. the cathedral is in the Quaker Hill Historic District of the city.

Architectural history

Founding

Saint Peter's Church was designed in 1816 by Pierre Bauduy, planner of the Wilmington town hall. The church

cornerstone A cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry Foundation (engineering), foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entir ...

was laid in 1816; the 30- by 40-foot (9.1- by 12-meter) Romanesque-style building was executed in brick. Saint Peter's was dedicated on September 12, 1818. The first

mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

was celebrated by Father Patrick Kenny on September 13, 1818. In 1829, the congregation installed a

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...

on Saint Peter's and expanded the structure to it current length of .

1868 to 1905 renovations

In 1868,

Pope Pius IX Pope Pius IX (; born Giovanni Maria Battista Pietro Pellegrino Isidoro Mastai-Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878. His reign of nearly 32 years is the longest verified of any pope in hist ...

erected the Diocese of Wilmington. This action prompted the new diocese to prepare Saint Peter's for consecration as a

cathedral 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 ...

. Starting in 1870, the diocese added

fresco Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...

es, a marble

baptistery In Church architecture, Christian architecture the baptistery or baptistry (Old French ''baptisterie''; Latin ''baptisterium''; Greek language, Greek , 'bathing-place, baptistery', from , baptízein, 'to baptize') is the separate centrally planned ...

, three

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religion, religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, Church (building), churches, and other places of worship. They are use ...

s, a

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

railing, a barrel-domed roof, and a bishop's

cathedra A ''cathedra'' is the throne of a bishop in the early Christian basilica. When used with this meaning, it may also be called the bishop's throne. With time, the related term ''cathedral'' became synonymous with the "seat", or principa ...

to the church. The church's Munich-style

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

was added around 1900. The stained glass was probably created by Franz Xavier Zettler, master glass painter to the Royal Court of Bavaria or by his pupil, Franz Mayer.

Pro-cathedral designation

When the church upgrades were finished in 1905, St. Peter's was ready to be consecrated as a cathedral by the apostolic delegate, Archbishop

Diomede Falconio Diomede Angelo Raffaele Gennaro Falconio, O.F.M. (20 September 1842 – 8 February 1917) was an Italian Cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as Prefect of the Congregation for Religious from 1916 until his death, and was elevated to ...

. However, when Falconio arrived onsite, he saw that Saint Peter's was joined to a

rectory A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, p ...

and a school. According to

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Geography * Vatican City, an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy * Vatican Hill, in Rome, namesake of Vatican City * Ager Vaticanus, an alluvial plain in Rome * Vatican, an unincorporated community in the ...

policies, a cathedral had to be a free-standing building. Falconio instead designated Saint Peter's as a

pro-cathedral A pro-cathedral or procathedral is a parish Church (building), 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 prefect ...

, a church serving temporarily as a cathedral. The diocese eventually upgraded Saint Peter's and it was consecrated as a cathedral.

1981 and 1991 renovations

The diocese renovated Saint Peter's in 1981 to repair structural damage and to modify the

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred space, sacred place, such as a shrine, protected by ecclesiastical immunity. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This seconda ...

to meet liturgical changes after the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...

. Contractors added

flying buttress The flying buttress (''arc-boutant'', arch buttress) is a specific form of buttress composed of a ramping arch that extends from the upper portion of a wall to a pier of great mass, to convey to the ground the lateral forces that push a wall ou ...

es to support the

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...

walls in 1991, along with a steel substructure for the pillars and

choir loft A choir, also sometimes called quire, is the area of a church (building), church or cathedral that provides seating for the clergy and church choir. It is in the western part of the chancel, between the nave and the Sanctuary#Sanctuary as area a ...

2007 renovations

By 2007, new structural problems had arisen at Saint Peter's. A plaster

rosette Rosette is the French diminutive of ''rose''. It may refer to: Flower shaped designs * Rosette (award), a mark awarded by an organisation * Rosette (design), a small flower design *hence, various flower-shaped or rotational symmetric forms: ** R ...

fell from the ceiling into one of the pews. Leaks in the roof were spotted. The diocese also wanted to fix a problem from earlier construction work. Previous renovations had added two floor-to-ceiling metal poles to fortify the arches leading into the side chapels. These poles now blocked the view of the tabernacle in its new location in the cathedral. Thanks to a grant from the Catholic Diocese Foundation, the diocese was able to replace the roof while keeping the cathedral open for worship. With the assistance of the cathedral's rector, Father Joseph Cocucci, the diocese undertook further renovations at Saint Peter's: * The cathedra was moved to the side of the sanctuary * The tabernacle was moved back to the center behind the altar. * A shrine to

Mary, mother of Jesus Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

was created that was accessible to those with

physical disabilities A physical disability is a limitation on a person's physical functioning, mobility, dexterity or stamina. Other physical disabilities include impairments which limit other facets of daily living, such as respiratory disorders, blindness, epilepsy ...

* The

baptismal font A baptismal font is an Church architecture, ecclesiastical architectural element, which serves as a receptacle for baptismal water used for baptism, as a part of Christian initiation for both rites of Infant baptism, infant and Believer's bapti ...

was positioned near the cathedral entrance. On November 22, 2007, in a Thanksgiving Day service at Saint Peter's, Bishop Michael Saltarelli thanked Father Cocucci "for putting the Blessed Sacrament in His proper place and for putting the bishop in his proper place."

Rectors

The cathedral parish of Saint Peter has had sixteen rectors since its founding in 1804: #Rev. Patrick Kenny (1804–1840) #Rev. Patrick Reilly (1840–1850) #Rev. Jeremiah O'Donohoe (1851–1855) #Rev. Patrick Prendergast (1855–1859) #Rev. Patrick O'Brien (1859–1867) #Rev. Matthew McGrane (1867–1868) #Most Rev. Thomas A. Becker (1868–1886) #Msgr. John Lyons (1887–1916) #Msgr. John J. Dougherty (1916–1948) #Msgr. Joseph Sweeney (1949–1968) #Rev. John P. McLaughlin (1968–1977) #Rev. James E. Richardson (1977–1982) #Msgr. Paul J. Taggart (1982–1994) #Rev. William B. Kauffman (1995–2001) #Rev. Michael J. Carrier (2001–2005) #Rev. Joseph M. P. R. Cocucci (2006–present)

References

External links

Official Cathedral SiteRoman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington Official Site
{{NRHP Peter Wilmington Roman Catholic churches in Wilmington, Delaware Roman Catholic churches completed in 1818 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States Historic district contributing properties in Delaware National Register of Historic Places in Wilmington, Delaware Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Delaware Cathedrals in Delaware 1818 establishments in Delaware