Cathedral Of Saints Peter And Paul (Providence, Rhode Island)
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The Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul is a
Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
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 ...
in the Cathedral Square neighborhood of
Providence Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in some religions * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...
,
Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...
,
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. It 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 church, or ...
of the
Diocese of Providence The Diocese of Providence () is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in Rhode Island in the United States. The diocese was erected by Blessed Pope Pius IX on February 17, 1872. The Diocese of Providence is a suffragan diocese of the Ar ...
. The
Neo-Romanesque Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended t ...
church was designed in 1873 by
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 ...
and added to the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
in 1975.


History

On November 4, 1838, the first Mass was celebrated at a small church dedicated to Sts. Peter and Paul. Within the next five years, the population of Catholics continued to grow and flourish. In 1844, a new
diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...
was formed with its see at
Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...
. Its bishop, William Tyler, elected to reside in Providence, as the majority of Catholics lived there. As the number of Catholics in the region continued to grow, the Sts. Peter and Paul Church building could not accommodate the increasing numbers of Irish Catholic immigrants. By 1872, the Catholic population in the diocese grew to 200,000. Bishop
Francis Patrick McFarland Francis Patrick McFarland (April 16, 1819 – October 2, 1874) was an American Catholic prelate who served as bishop of Hartford from 1858 until his death in 1874. Biography Early life Francis McFarland was born in Franklin, Pennsylvan ...
expressed interest in creating a new and larger cathedral but was unable to gain support within the diocese. Upon McFarland's request in 1871, for a reduced area to serve due to failing health, Pope Pius IX established the Diocese of Providence that encompassed Rhode Island, southeastern
Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
and
Martha's Vineyard Martha's Vineyard, often simply called the Vineyard, is an island in the U.S. state of Massachusetts, lying just south of Cape Cod. It is known for being a popular, affluent summer colony, and includes the smaller peninsula Chappaquiddick Isla ...
. In April 1872, Father
Thomas Francis Hendricken Thomas Francis Hendricken (May 5, 1827 – June 11, 1886) was an Irish people, Irish-born Catholic Church in the United States, American Catholic prelate who served as the first Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, Bishop of Providence from ...
became the first bishop of the new Diocese of Providence. The new diocese, at the time of its inception, recorded a Catholic population of 125,000; forty-three churches; fifty-three priests; six academies; nine parish schools with 4,225 students and one orphan asylum. Just as his predecessor, Bishop Hendricken was also in favor of building a new cathedral church to replace the current decrepit and inadequate structure. However, before any construction could begin, the parish had to erase a $16,000 debt. Bishop Hendricken worked tirelessly to get the cathedral built and in 1872, he was able to retire the debt and begin preliminary construction planning. In 1873, Patrick Keely was selected to draw the plans for one of the finest churches in the country. The following year, work on the foundation of a temporary church began when Bishop Hendricken signed a contract for the construction at a cost of $18,950. The old rectory was demolished and a new one built at the corner of Fenner and Pond Streets where it still stands. The cornerstone of the current cathedral was laid in 1878. Bishop Hendricken set aside $10,000 each year toward the building of the new structure. He also mounted a series of fundraising campaigns to keep construction going as he would only permit work to proceed if money was available. By 1882, the roof was completed and work began on the interior. However, that year Bishop Hendricken's health began to fail. He died before the cathedral was completed and his funeral
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 the first to be celebrated in the unfinished cathedral in 1886. At the time of his death, construction costs totaled $300,000. On June 30, 1889, more than a decade after construction began, the completed cathedral was finally consecrated by Bishop Matthew Harkins. After nearly 80 years of use the cathedral underwent a major renovation beginning in 1968. Diocesan leaders intended to complete work in time for the 100th Anniversary of the founding of the diocese in 1972. The work was initiated by Bishop Russell J. McVinney, the 5th Bishop of Providence; however, like his predecessor, Bishop McVinney did not live to see the completion of the newly renovated cathedral as he died in August 1971. In 2006, the basement of the cathedral which holds the church hall was renovated to accommodate parish gatherings and diocesan functions. The basement crypt was dismantled and a new stone tomb was laid in the upper church as a final resting place for Bishop Hendricken. Church leaders believed that Bishop Hendricken deserved a more prominent place in the building, as the cathedral is considered his legacy. The other bishops buried in the crypt were moved to a cemetery in nearby Cranston.


Notable Masses

The cathedral's first funeral Mass was held on June 16, 1886, before the structure was even completed. Providence's Bishop
Thomas Francis Hendricken Thomas Francis Hendricken (May 5, 1827 – June 11, 1886) was an Irish people, Irish-born Catholic Church in the United States, American Catholic prelate who served as the first Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, Bishop of Providence from ...
had been instrumental in raising support and funds for the cathedral's construction, even as his own health was failing. Hendricken died before he could see the project to completion. On September 8, 1947, Knut Ansgar Nelson, a Benedictine monk from Portsmouth Priory who had been named the
coadjutor The term "coadjutor" (literally "co-assister" in Latin) is a title qualifier indicating that the holder shares the office with another person, with powers equal to the other in all but formal order of precedence. These include: * Coadjutor bishop ...
Vicar Apostolic A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...
of Sweden, was consecrated as a bishop by
Amleto Giovanni Cicognani Amleto Giovanni Cicognani (24 February 1883 – 17 December 1973) was an Italian Cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as Vatican Secretary of State from 1961 to 1969, and Dean of the College of Cardinals from 1972 until his death. Cicogn ...
,
Apostolic Delegate An apostolic nuncio (; also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or to an international organization. A nuncio is ...
to the United States. On September 17, 2001, a memorial Mass was celebrated for
Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...
native
David Angell David Lawrence Angell (April 10, 1946 – September 11, 2001) was an American screenwriter and television producer, known for his work in sitcoms. He won multiple Emmy Awards as a ''Cheers'' writer and as the creator and executive producer of t ...
and his wife Lynn Edwards Angell who were passengers on
American Airlines Flight 11 American Airlines Flight 11 was a domestic Airline, passenger flight that was hijacked by five al-Qaeda terrorists on the morning of September 11, 2001, as part of the September 11 attacks. The hijacked airliner was deliberately crashed into ...
when it was flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. David Angell was a television writer and producer best known for his work on
Cheers ''Cheers'' is an American television sitcom, created by Glen and Les Charles, Glen Charles & Les Charles and James Burrows, that aired on NBC for eleven seasons from September 30, 1982, to May 20, 1993. The show was produced by Charles/Burrows/C ...
, Wings and
Frasier ''Frasier'' () is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for 11 seasons from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey (screenwriter), Peter Casey, and David Lee (scr ...
. The Mass was celebrated by his older brother, the Most Rev. Kenneth Angell, Bishop of Burlington, VT. A funeral Mass for former Providence mayor
Buddy Cianci Vincent Albert "Buddy" Cianci Jr. (, ; ; April 30, 1941 – January 28, 2016) was an American politician, attorney, radio talk show host, and political commentator who served as the mayor of Providence, Rhode Island from 1975 to 1984 and again f ...
was held the morning of February 8, 2016, presided over by Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Joseph Tobin.


Interior

The cathedral's interior is decorated in a
Gothic revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...
style and bears close resemblance to Holy Name Cathedral, the seat of the
Archdiocese of Chicago The Archdiocese of Chicago () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction, an archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church located in Northeastern Illinois, in the United States. The Vatican erected it as a diocese in 1843 and elevated it to an ar ...
. The brownstone exterior is remarkably similar to the original Cathedral of St. Joseph in Hartford, CT, finished in 1889 (which burned in 1956). Famed 19th century church 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 ...
designed all three buildings
tabernacle According to the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle (), also known as the Tent of the Congregation (, also Tent of Meeting), was the portable earthly dwelling of God used by the Israelites from the Exodus until the conquest of Canaan. Moses was instru ...
was cast in bronze by X. Corberro and Sons of Barcelona, Spain. The small finial ornament atop the tabernacle took some 58 hours to complete. The main altar is built of Verde Issoire, a green marble quarried in the
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. Green marble serves as decorative
wainscoting Panelling (or paneling in the United States) is a millwork wall covering constructed from rigid or semi-rigid components. These are traditionally interlocking wood, but could be plastic or other materials. Panelling was developed in antiquity t ...
along the walls and comprises the interior columns along the
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 ...
. The nave and transepts are capped by a ceiling of gothic vaulting and ribs of carved wood with the areas between the ribs painted in various scenes.
Stained glass windows 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 ...
feature scenes from both the New and Old Testaments and are fashioned from antique Munich Glass as are the west rose window, east rose window and great circular window. The windows were created in the studios of the Tyrolese Art Glass Company of
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,
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
. A large granite sarcophagus rests in the west transept, containing the remains of Bishop
Thomas Francis Hendricken Thomas Francis Hendricken (May 5, 1827 – June 11, 1886) was an Irish people, Irish-born Catholic Church in the United States, American Catholic prelate who served as the first Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, Bishop of Providence from ...
, first Bishop of Providence.


Exterior

The building is constructed of Connecticut Brownstone and is one of the more prominent pieces of architecture in the city of Providence. There are two towers which contain four church bells representative of the
Four Evangelists In Christian tradition, the Four Evangelists are Matthew the Apostle, Matthew, Mark the Evangelist, Mark, Luke the Evangelist, Luke, and John the Evangelist, John, the authors attributed with the creation of the four canonical Gospel accounts ...
:
Matthew Matthew may refer to: * Matthew (given name) * Matthew (surname) * ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith * Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Chinese Elm ''Ulmus parvifolia'' Christianity * Matthew the Apostle, one of ...
,
Mark Mark may refer to: In the Bible * Mark the Evangelist (5–68), traditionally ascribed author of the Gospel of Mark * Gospel of Mark, one of the four canonical gospels and one of the three synoptic gospels Currencies * Mark (currency), a currenc ...
,
Luke Luke may refer to: People and fictional characters * Luke (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Luke (surname), including a list of people with the name * Luke the Evangelist, author of the Gospel of Luk ...
and
John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...
. They were cast in a
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foundry and were dedicated in 1968 by the late Bishop McVinney.


Cathedral Square

Cathedral Square is a paved open public space in front of the cathedral. Between 1878 and
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the square was a bustling civic center of downtown Providence. Shops and businesses lined the area, and church crowds numbered in the hundreds. After the war, this center of civic life dwindled as people moved to the suburbs. In the late 1960s, the City of Providence hired up-and-coming architect
I. M. Pei Ieoh Ming Pei
– website of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners
( ; ; April 26, 1917 – May 16, 2019) was ...
to redesign Cathedral Square as part of an ambitious larger plan to redesign downtown. Pei's new plaza, modeled after the Greek
Agora The agora (; , romanized: ', meaning "market" in Modern Greek) was a central public space in ancient Ancient Greece, Greek polis, city-states. The literal meaning of the word "agora" is "gathering place" or "assembly". The agora was the center ...
marketplaces, opened in 1972. Unfortunately, the city ran out of money before Pei's vision could be completed. Also, recent construction of a low-income housing complex and
Interstate 95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, north to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the ...
had changed the neighborhood's character permanently. In 1974, '' The Providence Evening Bulletin'' called the new plaza a 'conspicuous failure.' By 2016, media reports characterized the plaza as a neglected, little-visited "hidden gem".


Doyle statue

A statue of Providence mayor Thomas A. Doyle was erected in Cathedral Square in 1889, and removed to the corner of Broad and Chestnut Street in 1967.


Organ

The organ was built by the
Casavant Frères Casavant Frères () is a Canadian organ building company in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, which has been building pipe organs since 1879. As of 2014, the company has produced more than 3,900 organs. Company history Brothers Joseph-Claver (1855†...
company of
Saint-Hyacinthe Saint-Hyacinthe ( , ) is a city in southwestern Quebec east of Montreal on the Yamaska River. The population as of the 2021 Canadian census was 57,239. The city is located in Les Maskoutains Regional County Municipality of the Montérégie regi ...
,
Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
, and was completed in July 1971. Designed by renowned American organ builder Lawrence Phelps, Casavant's Opus 3145 was installed in the ecclesiastical North (compass East) Transept at a cost of $217,500. It consists of four 56-key manuals, a 32-key pedalboard, 74 stops and 126 ranks. There are 6,616 pipes ranging from 6 inches to 32 feet in length. This is one of the largest mechanical action organs in North America and one of the largest ever built by Casavant Frères.Information about the organ
/ref>


Gallery

File:The towers of Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul.jpg, The cathedral towers looking north File:Providence Illustrated, Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral.jpg, Exterior photograph published in 1891 File:Providence Illustrated, Interior of Sts. P. & P. Cathedral.jpg, An interior photograph, published in 1891


See also

*
List of Catholic cathedrals in the United States The Catholic Church in the United States comprises ecclesiastical territories called dioceses, eparchies, and ordinariates led by prelate Ordinary (church officer), ordinaries known as bishops. Each bishop is assigned to a cathedral from which ...
*
List of cathedrals in the United States This is a list of cathedrals in the United States, including both actual cathedrals (seats of bishops in Episcopal polity, episcopal Christian groups, such as Catholic Church, Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy an ...
*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Providence, Rhode Island National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...


References


Further reading

* * * *


External links


Official Cathedral Site

Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence Official Site





Photo of Cathedral Square ca. 1916 on Flickr
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cathedral Of Saints Peter And Paul, Providence Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Rhode Island Peter and Paul, Cathedral of Churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence Patrick Keely buildings Churches in Providence, Rhode Island Roman Catholic churches completed in 1878 1878 establishments in Rhode Island National Register of Historic Places in Providence, Rhode Island Cathedrals in Rhode Island 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States