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St. Louis Cathedral
The Saint Louis Cathedral has
been referred to as the Basilica of St. Louis, King of France, and
is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans,
Louisiana and is the oldest operating cathedral in the nation. The
initial church that was constructed here was built in 1718, and the
third, which was constructed in 1789, was raised to cathedral status
in 1793. It was then enlarged and mostly rebuilt in 1850, so that
not much of the original is left. It is located in the French
quarter of New Orleans, on the Place John Paul II, which is a
promenaded part of Chartres Street that runs one block between St.
Peter Street that is by the upriver boundary and St. Ann Street that
is opposite on the downriver boundary. Sitting next to Jackson
Square and looking out over the Mississippi River in the heart of
the city, it sits between the historical structures of the
Presbytere and the Cabildo. The church is one of the few in the
country that faces a square of major importance. There have been
three churches built on the spot since the first one in 1718 since
the first one was just a wooden building in the early days of the
city, but a bigger one of brick and timber was started in 1725, and
finished in 1727. The Great Fire of New Orleans in 1788 on Good
Friday destroyed the second church, which led to the cornerstone of
the new church being placed in 1789 and finished in 1794. Before
that, the church was raised to the cathedral status, in 1793, and
became the See Diocese of New Orleans, thus making it the oldest in
the country. They would add a bell tower and clock housing in 1819.
By 1834, they had to consider the possibility of making the church
bigger so that the needs of the increasing congregation could be
met, and they consulted with J. N. B. de Pouilly, who had designed
the St. Augustine Church in Treme, which was the first church that
was dedicated as a parish church that was located outside of the
city. The Mortuary Chapel, located on North Rampart was dedicated in
1827 as a chapel, while the St. Vincent de Paul church was only a
small framed church built in 1838 and not dedicated. In 1849, the
archdiocese commissioned John Patrick Kirwan to increase the size of
the cathedral and to renovate it so that it was more updated in
regards to certain items. They did want him to use de Pouilly's
designs to do the work. Those plans stated that everything except
the lateral walls and lower parts of the towers on the front facade,
should be taken away. In the reconstruction, the workers realized
that the lower walls would also have to be taken away, so in 1850,
the central tower collapsed, with both Kirwan and de Pouilly being
replaced. Because of those changes, the original Spanish colonial
styling would be lost, with the structure standing there today being
rebuilt in 1850. They could reused the old bell, where it still
rings today, and while they worked on the construction and changes,
St. Patrick's Church was used. In 1909, a dynamite bomb went off
inside the cathedral, blowing out the windows and making a mess of
the galleries; as well as getting more damage in the New Orleans
Hurricane of 1915. Then the next year, a part of the foundation
fell, which meant the building would have to be closed until the
repairs could be made and that was from Easter 1916 until Easter
1917. In 1964, Pope Paul VI made it a minor basilica and Pope John
Paul II came here for a visit in 1987. During Hurricane Katrina, two
huge oak trees were knocked down, falling and destroying 30 feet of
the ornamental gate, and the marble statue of Jesus, that stood near
it, would lose His forefinger and thumb. The horrific wind would
tear a hole in the roof that let damaging rain inside, and that did
terrible damage to the Holkamp pipe organ.
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