St. Mary Cathedral Basilica is a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

church situated in

Galveston, Texas Galveston ( ) is a Gulf Coast of the United States, coastal resort town, resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island (Texas), Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a pop ...

. It is the primary

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 ...

of the

Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston 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 ...

and 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 Catholics in Texas, as well as a

minor basilica Basilicas are Catholic church buildings that have a designation, conferring special privileges, given by the Pope. Basilicas are distinguished for ceremonial purposes from other churches. The building need not be a basilica in the architectura ...

. Along with the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Houston, St. Mary's serves more than 1.5 million Catholics living in the archdiocese.

History

In 1840, Fr

John Timon John Timon, CM (February 12, 1797 – April 16, 1867) was an American Catholic prelate who served as the first Bishop of Buffalo and founded the Brothers of the Holy Infancy. He was a member of the Vincentians. Biography Early life John Tim ...

, the newly appointed Apostolic Prefect of Texas, named fellow Vincentian priest

Jean-Marie Odin Jean-Marie Odin, C.M. ( English: John Mary; February 25, 1800 – May 25, 1870) was a French-born prelate of the Catholic Church and a member of the Congregation of the Mission. He served as the second Archbishop of New Orleans from 1861 t ...

to be the resident Vice-Prefect of Texas. Odin embarked from

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

on a schooner bound for the Texas coast, arriving in Galveston early in 1841. There he found a community of Catholics eager to build a church for their small congregation. In the months that followed, Odin procured enough money to begin construction of a wooden-frame church. He was assisted in this venture by Colonel

Michel Branamour Menard Michel Branamour Menard (1805–1856) was a Canadian-born trader and merchant, first active on the upper Mississippi River and later in Texas. He co-founded Galveston, Texas and represented Galveston County in the Congress of the Republic of Tex ...

and Dr. Nicholas Labadie, prominent Galvestonians. Menard is remembered as one of the founders of the City of Galveston. On February 6, 1842, one month before his consecration as a bishop, Odin dedicated the completed structure to the

Blessed Virgin Mary 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 ...

. The small, rectangular building measured . Odin, now the Apostolic Vicar of Texas, purchased a five-room cottage as the episcopal residence. He made an addition to the church structure of a small

sacristy A sacristy, also known as a vestry or preparation room, is a room in Christianity, Christian churches for the keeping of vestments (such as the alb and chasuble) and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records. The sacristy is us ...

, and bought thirty benches for the convenience of his parishioners. In 1845, Odin purchased 500,000 bricks from

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, which were shipped to Galveston as ballast. He would use the bricks in the construction of his dream: a larger, permanent church. The little frame church was moved out into the street, and work on the new St. Mary's began in 1847. The ceremony of laying the cornerstone took place on Sunday, March 14. Timon came to Galveston for the event and preached the sermon before a large crowd. On May 4, 1847,

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 ...

approved the establishment of the Diocese of Galveston and named Odin as its first bishop. On November 26, 1848, the cathedral was ready for dedication. Once more Timon was chosen as the principal speaker because of his close association with, and his pioneer work in, the diocese. The cathedral basilica is notable as being one of the few buildings in Galveston that survived the devastating

1900 Galveston hurricane The 1900 Galveston hurricane, also known as the Great Galveston hurricane and the Galveston Flood, and known regionally as the Great Storm of 1900 or the 1900 Storm, was a deadly and catastrophic Atlantic hurricane which became the List of di ...

with only minimal damage. Due to the tremendous growth in the City of

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, in 1959 the Wendelin J. Nold, the fifth bishop of the diocese, asked that the diocese be re-designated the Diocese of Galveston-Houston. This created a co-capital or "see" city in Houston, and Sacred Heart Church in Houston was named the "co-cathedral" of the diocese. This did not change the status of Galveston as a see city nor St. Mary Cathedral's place in the diocese. Since St. Mary Cathedral was the first Catholic cathedral in the state of Texas, and the original Diocese of Galveston encompassed the entire state, it has the distinction of being the mother church of all the Catholic dioceses in Texas. St. Mary Cathedral was named a Texas state historic landmark in 1968 and a national historic landmark in 1973. In 1979, in recognition of the cathedral's importance to the community and the state of Texas, as well as the historical impact it had on Catholicism in the state of Texas,

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

elevated St. Mary Cathedral to the status of a minor basilica.

The basilica today

The cathedral basilica sustained significant water damage during

Hurricane Ike Hurricane Ike () was a powerful tropical cyclone that swept through portions of the Greater Antilles and Northern America in September 2008, wreaking havoc on infrastructure and agriculture, particularly in Cuba and Texas. Ike took a sim ...

in 2008 and was closed for repairs until Easter 2014. In 2009, the archdiocese appointed a director of special projects to oversee the cathedral basilica's restoration. As of July 2012, the roof was replaced, the pews were rebuilt and refinished, steel armature reinforcements were added to the two front

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spire ...

s, the confessionals and

Stations of the Cross The Stations of the Cross or the Way of the Cross, also known as the Via Dolorosa, Way of Sorrows or the , are a series of fourteen images depicting Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ on the day of Crucifixion of Jesus, his crucifixion and acc ...

were refinished, and exterior masonry repairs, coating and chemical remediation had all been completed. A new concrete substructure was being built to support the floor, which is currently supported by the original wooden beams that were installed when the cathedral basilica was constructed in 1847.

References

External links

*
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Mary Cathedral Basilica, Galveston, Texas Mary's Cathedral, Galveston Mary Galveston Cathedral St. Mary's Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Texas National Register of Historic Places in Galveston County, Texas 1847 establishments in Texas Churches in Galveston, Texas Recorded Texas Historic Landmarks

History

The basilica today

See also

References

External links