The Catedral Basílica Metropolitana de San Juan Bautista, or in English, Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica of Saint John the Baptist, is the

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

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 ...

of the Archdiocese of San Juan de Puerto Rico. The cathedral is one of the oldest buildings in San Juan, located in

Old San Juan Old San Juan ( es, Viejo San Juan) is a historic district located at the "northwest triangle" of the islet of San Juan. Its area roughly correlates to the Ballajá, Catedral, Marina, Mercado, San Cristóbal, and San Francisco sub-barrios (s ...

, the oldest cathedral in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, and is the second oldest cathedral in the Americas. Even though the Cathedral of Santa María la Menor in

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in the

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, is an older church building, the Cathedral of San Juan Bautista was the first cathedral church in the Americas as San Juan, then known as the city of Puerto Rico, was the first diocese of the New World with bishop Don Alonso Manso in 1511. The site is the location of the first church built in the New World. A private Puerto Rican foundation known as ''Fundación Protectora de la Catedral Metropolitana de San Juan, Inc.'' has been established to fund the historical restoration of the building and its art treasures for its 500th anniversary in 2021, and to protect it for coming centuries.

History

The original cathedral in what was the city of Puerto Rico (changed to San Juan Bautista in 1521) was constructed from wood in 1521. It was destroyed by a hurricane and the current structure constructed in 1540, being reshaped in later centuries, the last time being in 1917. The first school in Puerto Rico was the ''Escuela de gramática'' (Grammar School). The school was established by Bishop Alonso Manso in 1513, in the area where the cathedral would later be constructed. The school was free of charge and the courses taught were Latin language, literature, history, science, art, philosophy and theology. The cathedral contains the

tomb A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called ''immureme ...

of the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

explorer and settlement founder Juan Ponce de León. It also has a shrine to the

Blessed Blessed may refer to: * The state of having received a blessing * Blessed, a title assigned by the Roman Catholic Church to someone who has been beatified Film and television * ''Blessed'' (2004 film), a 2004 motion picture about a supernatural ...

Carlos Manuel Rodríguez Santiago Carlos Manuel Cecilio Rodríguez Santiago, also known as "Blessed Charlie" (22 November 22, 1918 – July 13, 1963), was a Catholic catechist and liturgist who was beatified by Pope John Paul II on April 29, 2001. He is the first Puerto Rican an ...

, the first Puerto Rican, the first Caribbean-born layperson in history to be beatified. The first organist of the Cathedral of San Juan was the

Canarian Canary Islanders, or Canarians ( es, canarios), are a Romance people and ethnic group. They reside on the Canary Islands, an autonomous community of Spain near the coast of northwest Africa, and descend from a mixture of European settlers and abo ...

Domingo Crisanto Delgado Gómez who came from the island of

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and managed to take this position in

1836 Events January–March * January 1 – Queen Maria II of Portugal marries Prince Ferdinand Augustus Francis Anthony of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. * January 5 – Davy Crockett arrives in Texas. * January 12 ** , with Charles Darwin on board, re ...

, having been a composer in Cathedral Our Lady of Los Remedios of San Cristóbal de La Laguna in his native island.

Gallery

References

External links

Official Site

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Juan Official Site

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20160111052100/http://parishesonline.com/find/cathedral-of-san-juan-bautista English language web site with information about the Cathedral of San Juan Bautista {{DEFAULTSORT:Catedral Metropolitana Basilica de San Juan Bautista (San Juan, Puerto Rico) Roman Catholic churches completed in 1521 16th-century Roman Catholic church buildings Basilica churches in Puerto Rico San Juan Bautista Old San Juan, Puerto Rico Tourist attractions in San Juan, Puerto Rico Spanish Colonial architecture in Puerto Rico Roman Catholic churches in San Juan, Puerto Rico 1521 establishments in the Spanish Empire

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links