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Cathedral of St. Paul

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Color image of the of St. Paul Cathedral from John Ireland Blvd. Photograph by Wikimedia Commons user McGhiever, 2012.

View of St. Paul Cathedral from John Ireland Blvd. Photograph by Wikimedia Commons user McGhiever, 2012.

There have been four Roman Catholic cathedrals in St. Paul. The first three were built between 1841 and 1858. The fourth, and the most architecturally distinctive, opened in 1915. Since then, no building in the Twin Cities has approached it in ambition or magnificence.

The massive granite cathedral at the foot of Summit and Selby Avenues is the fourth in the history of the archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. The first was Father Lucien Galtier’s log-cabin Chapel of St. Paul, elevated to the status of cathedral with the 1851 arrival of Bishop Joseph Cretin. A three-floor brick building succeeded it later in 1851; a bigger one in stone followed in 1856. Both stood in downtown St. Paul.

Between 1850 and 1900 St. Paul grew from a village to a city of over 160,000. Many of the new citizens were Roman Catholics, mostly of German and Irish origin. In 1904 Archbishop John Ireland (1838–1918), a potato-famine Irish immigrant and a protégé of Joseph Cretin’s, decided to build yet another cathedral.

Ireland hired French architect Emmanuel Masqueray (1861–1917). Together they conceived a building with a grandeur rivaled only by Cass Gilbert’s state capitol, completed in 1905.

The commanding site they chose sits on the edge of a bluff then called St. Anthony Hill. In a biblical context, it can be seen as permitting the House of God to look down, literally and symbolically, on moneychangers (as represented by downtown St. Paul) and Caesar (as represented by the state capitol).

Construction began in 1906. The building opened, undecorated inside, in 1915. Masqueray died in 1917, Ireland a year later. The Boston firm of Maginnis and Walsh was hired in 1923 to complete the interior, a project that went on until 1940.

The exterior is Rockville (Minnesota) granite topped by a copper dome 306 feet from the ground at its apex. Above the main, east-facing entry, a relief sculpture of Christ sending his apostles out to preach to the world reaches to the peak. It is flanked by statues of St. Peter and St. Paul designed by Leon Hermant of Chicago and carved by John Garratti of St. Paul. Its overall appearance is severe; the granite is gray, the dome’s copper oxidized to a cocoa brown.

The interior, by contrast, abounds in color—marble, metalwork, stained glass, and painting. There are at least twenty-five varieties of marble on display from nine countries. Their colors range from radiant red (Rojo Alicante from Spain in the Sacred Heart Chapel) to deep green (Tinos from Greece in the vestibules) to a black flecked with gold (Portora from Italy in the baldachin columns.)

The bronze screen behind the altar is worked in figures and patterns. All of the eleven chapels feature stained glass windows. Three enormous rose windows brighten the sanctuary; one of them portrays North American martyrs and North Woods wildlife. The rose windows are by Charles Connick, the grilles by Albert Atkins, and the altar and baldachin (altar cover) by Whitney Warren.

An unusual feature of the cathedral is the Shrine of Nations: six chapels arrayed in a semicircle behind the altar, installed 1926–1928. These commemorate ethnic groups that contributed labor and money to the Cathedral project: Irish, French Canadian, Italian, German, and Slavic. A sixth, of St. Therese, represents other ethnic groups in general. Each contains a central statue of a patron saint, two flanking stained glass windows, and, in the floor, a circular slab of marble from the country.

There are two large frescos by Mark Balma. One shows Bishop Cretin arriving by canoe in 1851, with the Chapel of St. Paul in the background. The other portrays Archbishop Ireland about to enter the cathedral for its first mass in spring of 1915.

At each of the four corners of the main seating area stands a bigger-than-life statue of one of the four evangelists. The interior space is vast beneath the high dome. The main dome and the high ceiling over the altar are both highly decorated, adding to the variety of color and setting off the soft glow of the Mankato travertine walls and columns.

A major renovation took place between 2001 and 2003. Workers repaired the exterior and completely re-sheathed the copper dome.

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© Minnesota Historical Society
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  • Related Resources

Cain, Sr. Joan, and Paul Nelson. Rocky Roots, Geology and Stone Construction in Downtown St. Paul. St. Paul: Ramsey County Historical Society, 2004.

Durkin, Sister Mary Cabrini, ed. Cathedral of St. Paul, Living Mission of the Church. Strasbourg, France: Editions du Signe, 1998.

Hansen, Eric C. Cathedral of Saint Paul, an Architectural Biography. St. Paul: Cathedral of St. Paul, 1990.

Millet, Larry. AIA Guide to the Twin Cities: the Essential Source on the Architecture of Minneapolis and St. Paul. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 2007.

Related Images

Color image of the of St. Paul Cathedral from John Ireland Blvd. Photograph by Wikimedia Commons user McGhiever, 2012.
Color image of the of St. Paul Cathedral from John Ireland Blvd. Photograph by Wikimedia Commons user McGhiever, 2012.
Oil-on-canvas painting of the Chapel of St. Paul by Alexis Jean Fournier, 1888.
Oil-on-canvas painting of the Chapel of St. Paul by Alexis Jean Fournier, 1888.
Etching of the Norman Kittson mansion made by Charles William Post, 1889.
Etching of the Norman Kittson mansion made by Charles William Post, 1889.
John Ireland, St. Paul
John Ireland, St. Paul
Black and white photograph of architect Emmanuel L. Masqueray, 1909. Photograph by the J. C. Strauss Studio.
Black and white photograph of architect Emmanuel L. Masqueray, 1909. Photograph by the J. C. Strauss Studio.
Black and white photograph of the third Cathedral of St. Paul, 1914. Photograph by Charles D. Lundin.
Black and white photograph of the third Cathedral of St. Paul, 1914. Photograph by Charles D. Lundin.
Color postcard of the fourth Cathedral of St. Paul, c.1956.
Color postcard of the fourth Cathedral of St. Paul, c.1956.
Color image of the Cathedral of St. Paul’s St. Peter chapel. Photographed by Paul Nelson on July 16, 2014.
Color image of the Cathedral of St. Paul’s St. Peter chapel. Photographed by Paul Nelson on July 16, 2014.
Color image of Tinos marble from Greece inside the north vestibule of the Cathedral of St. Paul. Photographed by Paul Nelson on July 16, 2014.
Color image of Tinos marble from Greece inside the north vestibule of the Cathedral of St. Paul. Photographed by Paul Nelson on July 16, 2014.
Color image of a stained glass window depicting Saint Wenceslaus inside the Cathedral of St. Paul’s shrine of nations. Photographed by Paul Nelson on July 16, 2014.
Color image of a stained glass window depicting Saint Wenceslaus inside the Cathedral of St. Paul’s shrine of nations. Photographed by Paul Nelson on July 16, 2014.
Color image of a west-facing view of the main seating area of the Cathedral of St. Paul. Photographed by Paul Nelson on July 10, 2014.
Color image of a west-facing view of the main seating area of the Cathedral of St. Paul. Photographed by Paul Nelson on July 10, 2014.
Color image of a relief statue of St. Paul carved by Leon Hermant for the exterior of the Cathedral of St. Paul. Photographed by Paul Nelson on July 10, 2014.
Color image of a relief statue of St. Paul carved by Leon Hermant for the exterior of the Cathedral of St. Paul. Photographed by Paul Nelson on July 10, 2014.
Color image of the altar and baldachin (decorative canopy) inside the St. Paul Cathedral. Photographed by Paul Nelson on July 10, 2014.
Color image of the altar and baldachin (decorative canopy) inside the St. Paul Cathedral. Photographed by Paul Nelson on July 10, 2014.
Color image of the decorative altar ceiling inside the St. Paul Cathedral. Photographed by Paul Nelson on July 10, 2014.
Color image of the decorative altar ceiling inside the St. Paul Cathedral. Photographed by Paul Nelson on July 10, 2014.
Color photograph of a close-up view of a decorative grille inside the St. Paul Cathedral. Photographed by Paul Nelson on July 10, 2014.
Color photograph of a close-up view of a decorative grille inside the St. Paul Cathedral. Photographed by Paul Nelson on July 10, 2014.
Color image of statues of Saints Cyril and Methodius in the St. Paul Cathedral’s Shrine of Nations. Photographed by Paul Nelson on July 10, 2014.
Color image of statues of Saints Cyril and Methodius in the St. Paul Cathedral’s Shrine of Nations. Photographed by Paul Nelson on July 10, 2014.
Color image of the statue of St. Luke sculpted by Leon Hermant. Photographed by Paul Nelson on July 10, 2014.
Color image of the statue of St. Luke sculpted by Leon Hermant. Photographed by Paul Nelson on July 10, 2014.
Color image of a north-facing, stained-glass rose window of the St. Paul Cathedral. Photographed by Paul Nelson on July 10, 2014.
Color image of a north-facing, stained-glass rose window of the St. Paul Cathedral. Photographed by Paul Nelson on July 10, 2014.
Color image of an interior view of the dome of the St. Paul Cathedral. Photographed by Paul Nelson on July 10, 2014.
Color image of an interior view of the dome of the St. Paul Cathedral. Photographed by Paul Nelson on July 10, 2014.
Color image of a station of the cross set on travertine (limestone) inside the St. Paul Cathedral. Photographed by Paul Nelson on July 16, 2014.
Color image of a station of the cross set on travertine (limestone) inside the St. Paul Cathedral. Photographed by Paul Nelson on July 16, 2014.

Turning Point

Observing the overflow crowds at the third cathedral (at Sixth and St. Peter Streets, and then fifty-one years old) in 1904, Archbishop John Ireland decides that a new cathedral must be built.

Chronology

1841

A log cabin overlooking the Mississippi near what will become Kellogg Boulevard and Wabasha Street is consecrated on November 1 as the Chapel of St. Paul. The building is so named by Father Lucien Galtier, the first Roman Catholic priest in Minnesota.

July 2, 1851

The chapel becomes Minnesota’s first cathedral when its first bishop, Father Joseph Cretin, arrives in St. Paul.

Late Fall, 1851

St. Paul’s second cathedral, a three-story building at Fifth and Wabasha Streets, is completed. It includes a church, living quarters for the bishop and priests, and a school.

1856

The cornerstone is laid for a third cathedral at Sixth and St. Peter Streets. Due to the Financial Panic of 1857, its original grand design is never completed.

March 31, 1904

Archbishop John Ireland decides that a fourth cathedral must be built to accommodate St. Paul’s growing Catholic population.

April 9, 1904

St. Paul businessman Charles H. F. Smith acquires the Kittson mansion for $52,000 and conveys it to the archdiocese.

March 1905

Emmanuel Masqueray is chosen as the new cathedral’s architect.

July 5, 1906

Masqueray estimates the cost, minus interior decoration, at $1 million.

November 1906

Work on the building begins.

1907

On June 2, the cornerstone is laid for the fourth Cathedral of St. Paul.

1914

The exterior of the cathedral is completed on May 18.

1915

Archbishop Ireland celebrates the first mass at the nearly completed cathedral on March 28.

1917

On May 26, Masqueray collapses in a streetcar on his way to work and dies a short time later at age fifty-five.

1918

On September 25, Archbishop Ireland dies at age eighty.

1940

Interior decorations are completed. The total cost of the building comes to $1,600,000.

2003

An exterior renovation is completed.