Saint Francis de Sales Cathedral is a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

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 ...

and

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the 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 community activities, ...

located in

Baker City Baker City is a city in and the county seat of Baker County, Oregon, United States. It was named after Edward D. Baker, the only U.S. Senator ever killed in military combat. The population was 10,099 at the time of the 2020 census. History Pla ...

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

, United States. Completed in 1908, it is the seat of the Diocese of Baker. The cathedral church and the parish rectory were included as

contributing properties In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distri ...

in the Baker Historic District, listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

, in 1978.

History

The first Catholic services in Baker City were held in October 1862 in a building that the church bought for that purpose. A frame building was erected for a church in 1871 on the site of the present cathedral. The Diocese of Baker City, later shortened to Baker, was created in 1903, and St. Francis de Sales Church was elevated to cathedral status. The present cathedral was constructed from 1906 to 1908. The rectory was built at the same time as the cathedral, but it was completed a year earlier in 1907. Stained glass windows were installed in 1923, 1958, and 1965. The

diocesan chancery A diocesan chancery is the branch of administration which handles all written documents used in the official government of a Catholic or Anglican diocese. It is in the diocesan chancery that, under the direction of the bishop or his representativ ...

was added to the north side of the church covering the lower part of the

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an '' exedra''. ...

in the 1960s. The cathedral was renovated on several occasions, most recently in mid-2007.

Architecture

The cathedral is a Gothic Revival structure that follows a basilican plan without side aisles. It is composed of local volcanic

tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock ...

that is rock-faced, rusticated, and ashlar in regular courses. The main facade is flanked by two towers of equal height that are capped with octagon-shaped

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. Spires a ...

s and crosses. A rose window is located in the middle of the main facade above the double entryway. The main

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 ...

features three pointed-arch windows on each elevation between

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral ( ...

es on the exterior. The

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building wi ...

has two larger pointed-arch windows below a rose window on both elevations. Two more pointed-arch windows are located in the apse. The rectory, which also served as the bishop's house, is composed of volcanic tuff, and it is laid in the same manner as the cathedral. The 2½-story structure is built on a raised foundation. It features a

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

roof with dormers and a front porch. A garage was added on the west side in 1960. The former chancery building is composed of volcanic tuff like the cathedral and the rectory, but it is randomly laid and it does not have the proportion of the other two. It is capped with a flat roof, and its windows and hardware reference the era it was built.

Renovations

The first renovation of the cathedral happened in 1944, when stenciled designs were painted in the

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a sa ...

and apse. In 1958, during the second renovation, the main altar was preserved, but the stenciling was covered up and two

sacristies A sacristy, also known as a vestry or preparation room, is a room in 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 usually located ...

were removed. During the third renovation in 1980, a

screen Screen or Screens may refer to: Arts * Screen printing (also called ''silkscreening''), a method of printing * Big screen, a nickname associated with the motion picture industry * Split screen (filmmaking), a film composition paradigm in which mul ...

was installed in the sanctuary and the

tabernacle According to the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle ( he, מִשְׁכַּן, mīškān, residence, dwelling place), also known as the Tent of the Congregation ( he, link=no, אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד, ’ōhel mō‘ēḏ, also Tent of Meeting, etc.), ...

moved to the side. The fourth renovation began in 2007.

Notes and references

Notes

References

External links

Official Cathedral Site

Diocese of Baker Official Site
{{John Virginius Bennes Religious organizations established in 1862 Roman Catholic churches completed in 1908

Buildings and structures in Baker City, Oregon Roman Catholic churches in Oregon Tourist attractions in Baker County, Oregon Roman Catholic Diocese of Baker Gothic Revival church buildings in Oregon Historic district contributing properties in Oregon Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Oregon 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States