St. Augustine Cathedral, located in

Bridgeport, Connecticut Bridgeport is the List of municipalities in Connecticut, most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut and the List of cities in New England by population, fifth-most populous city in New England, with a population of 148,654 in 2020. Loc ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, is the seat of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport The Diocese of Bridgeport () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Catholic Church located in the southwestern part of the state of Connecticut in the United States. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical provin ...

History

St. Augustine's parish was established by Rev. Thomas J. Synnott, as St. James Church at Arch Street and Washington Avenue had become inadequate for the size of the congregation. The

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 ...

for the present church was laid on August 28, 1865 and the completed church was dedicated by Bishop McFarland on

St. Patrick's Day Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick (), is a religious and cultural holiday held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (), the foremost patron saint of Ireland. Saint Patrick's Day was made an official Chri ...

in 1868. It became 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 ...

when the Diocese of Bridgeport was established in 1953. The edifice went through a major $4 million renovation in 2003 and the capacity was expanded to 750 people. The project was finished in 2004 with new

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...

tiles, repainted ceilings, a new

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 ...

, and other projects. On December 2, 2004,

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

Gabriel Montalvo,

Apostolic Nuncio 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, celebrated the dedication

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 ...

. Bishop William E. Lori and 12 other bishops from around

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

and

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concelebrated, in the presence of

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

Edward Egan of New York, and Cardinal William Keeler of Baltimore. Archbishop Daniel A. Cronin of Hartford delivered the homily. In 2014 the

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurised air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a Musical keyboard, keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single tone and pitch, the pipes are provide ...

was rebuilt and expanded to 42

ranks A rank is a position in a hierarchy. It can be formally recognized—for example, cardinal, chief executive officer, general, professor—or unofficial. People Formal ranks * Academic rank * Corporate title * Diplomatic rank * Hierarchy ...

by the A. Thompson-Allen Organ Company of

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is List ...

. Masses are currently said in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Latin (

Extraordinary form of the Roman rite In the Catholic Church, preconciliar Latin liturgical rites ("preconciliar": before the Second Vatican Council, which began in 1962) coexist with postconciliar rites. In the years following the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI initiated sign ...

).Diocese of Bridgeport
/ref> File:St. Augustine Cathedral interior - Bridgeport, Connecticut 01.jpg, Cathedral interior File:St. Augustine Cathedral interior - Bridgeport, Connecticut 06.jpg, Cathedra File:St. Augustine Cathedral interior - Bridgeport, Connecticut 17.jpg, Stained glass window File:St. Augustine Academy - Bridgeport, Connecticut.jpg, St. Augustine Academy

References

External links

Official Cathedral Site

Diocese of Bridgeport Official Site
Religious organizations established in 1842 Roman Catholic churches completed in 1868 Augustine, Saint, Bridgeport Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport Roman Catholic churches in Bridgeport, Connecticut Gothic Revival church buildings in Connecticut Roman Catholic parishes of Diocese of Bridgeport 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States {{Connecticut-RC-church-stub

History

See also

References

External links