The
Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception is
a cathedral serving Roman Catholics in the U.S. city of
Mobile,
Alabama
. It is the seat of the
Archbishop of the
Roman Catholic Archdiocese
of Mobile. The cathedral is named for
Mary, mother of Jesus, under her
title,
Our Lady of the Immaculate
Conception.
History
Mobile’s Cathedral Parish was established on July 20, 1703, by
Jean-Baptiste
de la Croix de Chevrières de Saint-Vallier,
Bishop of Quebec.
Bishop de
Saint-Vallier named Father Roulleaux de La Vente, first pastor of
the parish church, which was located at the French settlement of
Mobile at the citadel of Fort Louis de la Louisiane
. The parish is the first established on the
Gulf Coast.
When the Mobile settlement was relocated to its present site in
1711, a new parish church was built and was known as Notre Dame de
la Mobile (Our Lady of Mobile). In 1781, during the Spanish
occupation of Mobile, the parish took its current name, Immaculate
Conception.
Mobile was elevated to a diocese in 1829, and Frenchman,
Michael Portier, was named its first bishop.
Bishop Portier’s first “cathedral” was a small wooden structure
located in the Old Spanish Burying Ground, site of the present
cathedral. Portier soon set out to construct a "real"
cathedral.
Construction
The cathedral, designed in 1833, by Claude Beroujon, a former
seminarian turned architect, is laid out in a Roman
basilica design. Construction began in 1835, but
the
Panic of 1837, caused a shortage
of funds and delayed progress. The cathedral was consecrated for
public worship in 1850, by Bishop Portier, though Beroujon’s design
was not yet fully realized. The portico and
towers were to come later.
The
classical portico, with eight massive
columns of the Roman
Doric
order, was added in the 1870s, under the direction of Bishop
John Quinlan. The two towers were
completed in 1884, during the watch of Bishop
Jeremiah O'Sullivan.
Location and dimensions
Located on South Claiborne Street in downtown, it is bounded by
Dauphin Street on the north; Franklin Street on the west; and Conti
Street on the south.
The front of the church faces east, toward
the Mobile River, and overlooks
Cathedral
Square
.
The building, laid out in an east-west axis, is long and wide. The
ceiling is at its highest point, and its twin towers rise to
.
Stained glass windows
The interior in 2009
One of the cathedral’s finest attributes is its
stained glass windows.
The windows were made
in Munich
, Germany
by Franz Mayer & Co., and installed
beginning in 1890. The last window was installed in 1910,
during the time of Bishop
Edward
Patrick Allen.
The twelve main windows, six on the south wall and six on the north
wall, are approximately wide and tall. Each window depicts an event
involving
Mary in the life of
her son,
Jesus.
The subjects of the
south wall windows are Our Lady of the
Immaculate Conception
, the Presentation of Mary at the
Temple, the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Nativity of Jesus, and the
Holy Family. The themes
of the north wall are the
Finding of the Child Jesus at the
Temple, the
Marriage Feast
of Cana, the
Crucifixion of Jesus,
Pentecost, the
Assumption of Mary into Heaven, and
the
Coronation of Mary, Queen of
Heaven.
Two large windows flank the portico, one under each of the two
towers.
The Baptism
of Jesus in the River Jordan
, by John the
Baptist is the subject of the window in the Reconciliation
Room, under the north tower. The window under the south
tower, in the stairway to the choir loft, appropriately depicts
St. Cecilia,
patron saint of musicians.
Smaller windows are found in each of the eight doors in the foyer,
behind the cathedral’s main doors, at the church’s front entrance.
These depict, from left to right,
St. Augustine of Hippo,
Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the
Presentation of Mary at the Temple,
St. Louis IX, King of France,
St. Patrick,
Our Lady of
the Immaculate Conception,
St.
Agnes of Rome, Virgin & Martyr , and the
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. Above the four
middle doors is the
Holy Spirit
window.
Fire and other damage
Over the course of time, the cathedral experienced its share of
disasters, including an explosion, a
fire, an
airplane hit, and
hurricanes.
On May 25, 1865, a
Union Army ammunition depot exploded, killing
some 300 persons, and burning much of Mobile. The windows and
sashes on the north side of the cathedral were blown in by the
explosion. Fortunately, there were no services being held in the
cathedral at the time.
During
World War II, a
pilot-in-training, flying low, clipped one of the towers, resulting
in damage.
Disaster struck on March 19, 1954, when a homeless man, seeking
shelter in the church, caused a fire that destroyed the sanctuary.
The church still stood, but the interior suffered damage from fire,
smoke, and water from the
firefighters’ attempt to control the
blaze.
Repair, renovation and restoration
The south tower in 2009
After the 1954 fire, Bishop
Thomas
Joseph Toolen had the damaged stained glass windows sent to the
Franz Meyer workshops in Munich for repair. Here the craftsmen used
the original drawings as a guide in their restoration efforts. He
replaced the fire-damaged
cathedra and
pulpit with new ones made of mahogany. A
replacement
organ, built by the
Wicks Organ Company, was installed and
is in use today. At this time, Toolen added a massive
bronze baldachin above the
altar, supported by four marble columns.
In the 1970s, Bishop
John L. May made modifications to the sanctuary in
compliance with the 1970,
General Instruction of the Roman
Missal.[146802] The altar was moved forward and the altar
rails were removed. The cathedra was moved to its present location
on the south end of the sanctuary facing the congregation. At this
time, Bishop May also added a bronze representation of the Risen
Christ above the baldachin and a large
crucifix over the
tabernacle.
Archbishop
Oscar Lipscomb led
the most recent restoration effort earlier this decade. Under his
direction, the cast iron fence was restored and repaired, and the
cathedral exterior was cleaned and repaired. An interior overhaul,
executed by
Conrad Schmitt
Studios, included a
coffer ceiling above
the main aisle. The coffers are decorated with alternating
gold-leafed fleur-de-lis
and
shamrock, symbolically representing the
Trinity, as well as the contributions of the
French and Irish religious to the life of the Archdiocese. New
lighting and a new color scheme brightens the interior. White
marble flooring was installed in the aisles and the heart pine
floors under the pews were refinished. Embedded in the marble floor
of the main aisle are the
coats-of-arms of the Mobile bishops and
archbishops. A mural of the
Tree of
Jesse was installed above the pipe organ.
Basilica designation
In 1962,
Pope John XXIII elevated
the cathedral to a
minor
basilica, a title bestowed, only by the pope, on churches of
historical and spiritual importance. A basilica is entitled to have
its own coat-of-arms. Other basilica insignia include Pope John
XXIII's personal coat-of-arms installed above the cathedral
entrance, the yellow and red
umbracullum (umbrella) and
tintinnabulum (bell) in the
sanctuary.
Gallery
A gallery of photographs taken October 23, 1936, for the
Historic American Building
Survey. Note the interior as it looked before the fire of 1954.
Image:Cathedral of Immaculate Conception Mobile 2.jpg|East
elevation (front) portico and towers.Image:Cathedral of Immaculate
Conception Mobile 3.jpg|South side and tower looking slightly north
eastImage:Cathedral of Immaculate Conception Mobile 1.jpg|View of
the west end of the nave from the organ balcony showing sanctuary
and apse.Image:Cathedral of Immaculate Conception Mobile 5.jpg|East
end of nave showing organ and choir balcony and
entrance.Image:Cathedral of Immaculate Conception Mobile
6.jpg|Section of foundation wall under line of columns above
nave.Image:Cathedral of Immaculate Conception Mobile 7.jpg|Interior
column caps and barrel vault ceiling over the south
aisle.Image:Cathedral of Immaculate Conception Mobile 8.jpg|Cast
iron gates and fence on east front.Image:Cathedral of Immaculate
Conception Mobile 9.jpg|Detail of portico ceiling and columns,
north end or portico.
Notes
References
Wikis
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