St. Bernard Catholic Church, in

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the List of municipalities in Wisconsin by population, second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 269,840 at the 2020 Uni ...

, United States, is a

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

in the

Diocese of Madison The Diocese of Madison () is a Latin Church diocese in the southwestern part of Wisconsin in the United States. The diocese has approximately 167,000 Catholics in 102 parishes with 98 priests in active ministry. As of 2025, the bishop of Madison ...

. The parish was founded in 1907 and the church building was completed in 1927. In 2023, Bishop

Donald J. Hying Donald Joseph Hying (born August 18, 1963) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic, Roman Catholic Church, serving as the bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Madison, Diocese of Madison in Wisconsin since 2019. Hying previously serve ...

petitioned the

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to designate the church building as the diocesan cathedral. Pope Francis erected St. Bernard's as the new cathedral the same year. The consecration of the church as a cathedral is expected to take place in 2025.

History

On October 1, 1907, Archbishop Sebastian Messmer of

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sent the Rev. John Fisher to Madison to establish a parish on the city's east side. The first Mass was celebrated in a neighborhood home on November 10, 1907. Masses continued to be celebrated there until the Fair Oaks Town Hall was completed in early 1908, and they were transferred there. A combination church and school building, and 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 ...

were completed in 1910. The

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taught in the school. The current church building was completed during the pastorate of the

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William Eggers, who would serve the parish for 30 years. The

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and

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structure was designed by Madison architect John Flad. It was the city's largest Catholic Church at the time. When the Diocese of Madison was established in 1946, St. Bernard's was its largest parish. Growth in the 1950s saw Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish created from St. Bernard's, and St. Bernard's built a new school building to accommodate the rising number of students. The increased numbers were short lived, however, as the school closed in 1970. In 1978, the parish's pastor, Msgr. George Wirz, was ordained

Auxiliary Bishop An auxiliary bishop is a bishop assigned to assist the diocesan bishop in meeting the pastoral and administrative needs of the diocese. Auxiliary bishops can also be titular bishops of sees that no longer exist as territorial jurisdictions. ...

of Madison. The parish offices were moved from the rectory to the school building in 1993. On March 14, 2005, St. Raphael's Cathedral was destroyed by an arsonist. For the next 18 years the diocese would be without a cathedral. It used parish churches for diocesan celebrations while deciding how to replace St. Raphael's. In December 2022, Bishop Donald Hying outlined three proposals to settle the cathedral question as part of the ''Into the Deep'' strategic planning process for the diocese: build a new cathedral on the St. Raphael site, maintain the current status quo of no cathedral while utilizing facilities of the diocese for diocesan events, and elevate an existing parish church for the cathedral. He rejected building a new cathedral as too expensive, and the status quo as undesirable. In January 2023, the bishop proposed that he petition the Holy See to name St. Bernard's Church as the diocesan cathedral. This would require less of a financial burden and the plan could be accomplished with a small capital campaign to raise the necessary funds. A petition to name St. Bernard's as the cathedral was submitted to the Holy See for its approval. After the cathedral petition was submitted, the parish began a $15 million renovation project to make the church more suitable for function as a cathedral and restore the building. On August 15, 2023, the community celebrated its final Mass in the church itself before moving to the former school's gymnasium. On September 11, 2023, the

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alerted the Diocese of Madison that

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

erected St. Bernard's as the new cathedral. The

Dicastery for Bishops The Dicastery for Bishops, formerly named Congregation for Bishops (), is the congregation (Roman Curia), department of the Roman Curia of the Catholic Church that oversees the selection of most new bishops. Its proposals require pope, papal app ...

will issue an official decree of erection at a future date. click on the link "NEW CATHEDRAL" Bishop Hying held a press conference in St. Bernard's Church on January 24, 2024, to officially make public the decision of the Holy See. Once the renovation of the church building is completed in mid-2025, St. Bernard's will be consecrated as the cathedral.

Pastors

The following priests have served St. Bernard's as its pastor: *Rev. John Fisher, 1907–1908 *Rev. John Bach, 1908–1916 *Rev. George Loughney, 1916–1925 *Msgr. William Eggers, 1925–1960 *Msgr. Theodore Thome, 1960–1974 *Msgr./Bishop George Wirz, 1974–1984 *Msgr. John Hebl, 1984–1993 *Msgr. Michael Hippee, 1993–2013 *Rev. Michael Radowicz, 2013– present

Gallery

File:St. Bernard interior Holy Week Madison WI.jpg, Holy Week 2022 File:St. Bernard altar Madison WI.jpg, Altar File:St. Bernard right interior Madison WI.jpg, Right-hand windows File:St. Bernard left interior Madison WI.jpg, Left-hand windows

References

External links

Parish website

Diocese of Madison website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Bernard Catholic Church (Madison, Wisconsin) 1907 establishments in Wisconsin Roman Catholic churches completed in 1927 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States Churches in Madison, Wisconsin Churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Madison Gothic Revival church buildings in Wisconsin