| Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul | |
| Location: | 18th St. and Benjamin Franklin Parkway at Logan Square Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Coordinates: | 39.9573°N -75.1689°W |
| Built: | 1846–1864 |
| Architect: | Napoleon LeBrun, et al. John Notman, et al. (dome and facade) Constantino Brumidi (murals) |
| Architecture: | Italian Renaissance, Palladian |
| Added: | June 24, 1971 |
| Refnum: | 71000720 |
The Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, head church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia, stands on 18th Street on the east side of Logan Square, at the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. It was designed by Napoleon LeBrun to plans by the Reverend Mariano Muller and the Reverend John Tornatore and built between 1846 and 1864. Its dome and Palladian facade, by John Notman, were added after 1850.[1] The interior was decorated by Constantino Brumidi.[2]
The largest Catholic church in Pennsylvania, the cathedral was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1971. It has been the site of two Papal Masses, one celebrated by John Paul II in 1979, the other by Francis in 2015. The current rector is the Reverend Gerald Dennis Gill; the current archbishop of Philadelphia is Nelson J. Perez.[3]
On the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, June 29, 1846, Bishop Kenrick, then Bishop of Philadelphia, issued a pastoral letter announcing his determination to build a cathedral.
Philadelphia had two cathedrals before Saints Peter and Paul. The first Catholic church in Philadelphia was Saint Joseph's, which was built in 1733. As the Catholic Church grew, a new church called Saint Mary's was built in 1763; it became Philadelphia's first cathedral in 1810. As the Catholic Church continued to grow, Saint John the Evangelist was made the cathedral in 1838 when a larger church was needed. Saint John's remained the cathedral until Bishop Kenrick began work on the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul.
It was the bishop's intention to avoid running into debt, so the cathedral was long in building. He chose for the site a plot of ground adjoining the seminary at Eighteenth and Race Streets. Construction on the cathedral began shortly after the bishop's pastoral letter in 1846 but was not completed until 1864. The construction began less than 2 years after the Philadelphia Nativist Riots of 1844, which represented the height of Anti-Catholicism and Know-Nothingism in Philadelphia and, according to local lore, greatly influenced the design of the building. The cathedral was built with only very high clerestory windows that according to parish histories would inhibit vandalism. In order to protect the windows of the Cathedral Basilica from possible future riots, the builders would throw stones into the air to determine the height of where the windows would be placed.
In 2017, the shrine of Saint Katharine Drexel was relocated to the cathedral after its former home, St. Elizabeth's Convent, was closed and sold off by the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament.[4]
With its grand façade, vaulted dome, ornate main altar, eight side chapels and main sanctuary that comfortably holds 2,000 worshippers, the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul is the largest brownstone structure and one of the most architecturally notable structures in the city of Philadelphia.
The cathedral, presented in a Roman-Corinthian style of architecture, is modeled after the Lombard Church of St. Charles (San Carlo al Corso)[5] in Rome. Its Palladian façade and aqua oxidized-copper dome are in the Italian Renaissance manner, as is the spacious interior, which features an oversized apse of stained glass and red antique marble in proportions reminiscent of Roman churches. A baldachin (canopy) over the main altar and the three altars on each of the side aisles point up this Italian Renaissance flavor. In the bowels of the building is the compact "Crypt of the Bishops".
The basilica was designed by Napoleon LeBrun based on plans drawn up by the Reverend Mariano Muller and the Reverend John B. Tornatore, and by John Notman who added the dome and facade. LeBrun supervised the project from 1846 to 1851, when Notman took over until 1857, after which the cathedral was completed under LeBrun's supervision.[6]
LeBrun was a native Philadelphian born to French-Catholic parents. He designed numerous churches throughout Philadelphia, including St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Twentieth Street in 1841; the Seventh Presbyterian Church in 1842; the Scot's Presbyterian Church in 1843; the Catholic Church of St. Peter the Apostle (German), Fifth Street in 1843; and the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Holy Nativity in 1844, which ios no longer standing. Other notable buildings he designed include the Philadelphia Academy of Music on South Broad Street.
Notman is noted for his Philadelphia ecclesiastical architecture for the Protestant Episcopal Church, including St. Mark's Church on Locust Street in 1850; St. Clement's Church on 20th Street in 1857; and the Church of the Holy Trinity on Rittenhouse Square. He also designed the Athenaeum of Philadelphia and parts of the New Jersey State House.
Constantino Brumidi painted the ceiling mural in the dome, The Assumption of the Virgin into Heaven in 1868, and the round portraits of St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke, and St. John on its pendentives. Brumidi was a Greek/Italian-American painter, known for his murals in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., including The Apotheosis of Washington in the dome of the rotunda.
Architect Henry D. Dagit renovated the cathedral interior, 1914–1915, adding the apse behind the High Altar. D'Ascenzo Studios executed the apse's stained glass windows and mosaic murals.
In 1915, four bronze statues of Mary, mother of Jesus, Jesus, Saint Peter, and Saint Paul were added in niches on the building's main facade.[7]
Under the main altar of the cathedral is a crypt with the remains of most of the bishops and archbishops, and of several other clergymen, of Philadelphia. The crypt can be reached by stairs behind the main altar. The crypt is the final resting place of:
Notes