Original plan for St. Mary’s Cathedral with spire, circa 1853

On January 8, 1880, San Francisco’s beloved local character Emperor Norton dropped dead in front of Old St. Mary’s Cathedral. It was in some way the end of an era for the city and the cathedral of the Roman Catholic archdiocese.

The story began in 1851 when Bishop Joseph Sadoc Alemany arrived in California as bishop of Monterey-Los Angeles. He used the San Carlos presido chapel there as his pro-cathedral. In 1853 Alemany moved the pro-cathedral St. Francis Church on Vallejo Street when the Archdiocese of San Francisco was established. At the time, St. Francis and Mission Dolores were the only Catholic churches in the city. It was at St. Francis Church, then a small wooden structure, that Alemany was first welcomed as bishop. On that occasion, he spoke in English, Spanish and French; from the very beginning, ethnic diversity was a given in California.

Of course the cathedral for the diocese was to have been in Santa Barbara, but the grand plans of Bishop Thaddeus Amat never amounted to more than foundational stones being dragged to the proposed site. But plans were already afoot to build a great cathedral for San Francisco even as the archdiocese was established. The land was given by a prominent layman, John Sullivan, amid the usual criticism that the site was too far from the center of the city. Sullivan also gave land for Calvary Cemetery, St. Mary’s College on Larkin Street, Presentation Convent at Powell and Lombard, built Old St. Patrick (later the pro-cathedral) and dutifully supported many other Catholic institutions of the city. When Sullivan’s home was destroyed by fire in 1850, Bishop Alemany wrote him, “I can never forget the first $20 dollar gold piece I received in San Francisco was from your dear wife. Here is $5,000; take it, build up your houses. Repay me when you can.”

Architects William Crane and John England were retained to design the gothic revival church, originally envisioned to have a tall steeple, which was never completed. Many San Francisco residents were surprised when they answered a knock at the door to find the archbishop on their doorstep, asking for gifts to build St. Mary’s Cathedral; Alemany himself went door to door to raise the funds.

Old St. Mary’s Cathedal circa 1856

The foundation of St. Mary’s was begun and the cornerstone laid in 1853 at California and DuPont (now Grant Avenue) Streets. The stones for the foundation were cut and quarried in China. Brick was imported from New England around the horn, and local lumber was bought at highly inflated gold rush prices. To raise funds, pews were rented by auction, a common practice at the time.

Work continued feverishly through Christmas Eve of 1854, when workers were shooed out late in the evening so that the dedication could occur. The new cathedral was filled beyond capacity and a huge throng spilled out onto California Street, with rowdy San Franciscans literally hanging from the rafters of the unfinished church, their boots dangling above the crowded nave. A full orchestra provided the music for the dedication liturgy—Haydn’s Mass no. 3. Even without the steeple originally envisioned, St. Mary’s Cathedral was the tallest building west of the Mississippi and the pride of San Francisco. The full title of the church was the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception; the first cathedral church in the world to bear that title, as the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception had been defined by Pius IX only 17 days before the cathedral’s dedication. It was the first church to be built as a cathedral in California.

Old St. Mary’s Cathedral circa 1870

As Civil War loomed, a controversy erupted in San Francisco over a practice that came to be known as the “flagging of churches.” The churches of the city competed with each other to raise enormous American flags to demonstrate their solidarity with the Union. This hyper-patriotic frenzy reached its peak on July 4, 1861. Newspaper editorials called on Archbishop Alemany to follow suit and display the flag in St. Mary’s Cathedral. Alemany refused. He felt the flag did not belong in a building dedicated to the worship of God.

As the city continued its exponential growth, it became apparent that a new cathedral was needed. Archbishop Alemany once again began raising funds for a new cathedral. His new coadjutor, Bishop Patrick Riordan, had been ordained bishop in Chicago in 1883. The weary Alemany—who had been begging for retirement for years—entrusted the bulk of the project to Riordan, who was named archbishop of San Francisco in 1884, much to Alemany’s relief. On May 24, 1885, Alemany wept as he celebrated his last mass at St. Mary’s Cathedral, and shortly thereafter he returned to his native Spain.

The second St. Mary’s Cathedral

The cornerstone for the new Romanesque Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption was laid in 1890 at the corner of Van Ness and O’Farrell in the Tenderloin District. The Chicago architectural firm of Egan and Prindeville designed the red-brick structure. Among their existing works is St. Paul’s Cathedral in Pittsburgh (1906). Archbishop Riordan declined to live in the humble two-room shack Alemany had called home, and moved to the rectory of St. John the Baptist on Eddy Street while construction of the new cathedral was underway. When the new cathedral was dedicated in 1891, that parish was suppressed and its territory became a part of the cathedral parish. Old St. Mary’s Cathedral was given to the Paulists in 1894 to run as a parish church.

The second St. Mary’s Cathedral

On the morning of April 18, 1906 an enormous earthquake shook the city. This singular event in California history wold destroy much of the city; what had not crumbled in the first temblor was likely destroyed by fires that raged throughout the city for four days. At Old St. Mary’s Cathedral, there was little damage; the cross and pediment fell from the tower, some finials fell inside, some buttresses were damaged. As a precaution, the sacred vessels, vestments and some furnishings were sent to residences on Nob Hill for safekeeping; a move that was to prove a mistake. About noon that day the flames begin to approach Old St. Mary’s. For several hours the faithful fought flames, but eventually they ran out of water and could only watch as the venerable church burned. Only the brick walls remained; the stained glass was melted and the marble high altar had turned to dust.

Old St. Mary’s Cathedral in ruins after the Great Earthquake and Fire of 1906

The new cathedral, however, had narrowly escaped destruction when the pastor and sexton climbed the tower to extinguish the flames that had broken out in the belfry. As one of the few remaining structures following the Great Earthquake and Fire, St. Mary’s Cathedral became a center of relief in the devastated city, feeding up to 2,000 people each day in the aftermath of the disaster.

Lines of hungry people up to one mile long form in front of St. Mary’s Cathedral after the Great Earthquake and Fire of 1906

It was decided that as the brick exterior of Old St. Mary’s was left largely intact after the earthquake and fire, the church would be rebuilt around the ruins. Thomas J. Welsh was retained as architect of the rebuilding. In 1909 the proto-cathedral was rededicated by Archbishop Riordan. A renovation in 1925 increased its capacity from 700 to 1300.

Interior of Old St. Mary’s after the 1925 remodeling

In 1902 the Chinese Mission was established at Old St. Mary’s, which was then in the middle of Chinatown–the first such outreach in the United States. English was taught to Chinese immigrants in the church basement and native Chinese sisters arrived to provide social services, healthcare, work for the unemployed, immigration assistance, and lunch service for children, all with the dedicated support of the Paulists.

Old St. Mary’s Cathedral in the middle of Chinatown

Both the proto-cathedral and the new cathedral on Van Ness continued to serve the city until September 6, 1962, when the new cathedral was destroyed by fire. The cathedra itself escaped destruction and was moved to Mission Dolores, where it remained until 1979, when it was placed in the chapel of Holy Cross Mausoleum in Colma.

As the “new” cathedral was destroyed, the city of San Francisco began its third effort to build a cathedral. It fell to Archbishop Joseph McGucken to construct what would become perhaps the most significant cathedral built in the United States in the 20th Century, high atop a hill above the intersection of Geary Boulevard and Gough Street in the Western Addition, overlooking the City of St. Francis. As principal architect, McGucken chose Pier Luigi Nervi, the eminent Italian modernist architect whose unique vision vivified the cathedral design, and Boston architect Pietro Belluschi, who worked with local architects Angus McSweeney, Paul A. Ryan and John Michael Lee.

The new Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption was dedicated on May 5, 1971 and includes in its complex a large plaza, high school, faculty residence, rectory, conference center, parish hall, a museum and underground parking. The hyperbolic paraboloid rises to the shape of a cross outlined in stained glass 189 feet high, the equivalent of an 18-story building—about the same height as Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. From the clear glass windows of the cathedral one may look out on a stunning panorama view of the entire city of St. Francis, a city whose symbol is a phoenix, the mythical bird who rose triumphant from the ashes.

On the steps of St. Mary’s Cathedral

One day in the beginning of the 1850 academic year, a scholarly professor at All Hallows College in Dublin welcomed a guest speaker to his class. The visitor was Bishop Joseph Sadoc Alemany, a Spanish Dominican on his way to his new post as bishop of the far-away missionary diocese of Monterey. He talked to the seminarians about the need for priests in California. He must have been persuasive, for the professor himself became one of the hundreds of Irish priests who would journey to that far-off land to minister.

He was Eugene O’Connell, and upon his arrival in San Francisco in 1851, Bishop Alemany put him in charge of the struggling diocesan seminary at Mission Santa Inés. Father O’Connell moved the seminary to Mission Dolores shortly thereafter, where he also served as the pastor of St. Francis Church in San Francisco’s North Beach district. After serving a few years in the missions, O’Connell returned to his quiet life as a scholar in Dublin.

Imagine his surprise six years later when he received a letter from Rome appointing him bishop of the Vicariate of Marysville in California. Alemany had been named the first archbishop of San Francisco, and at the same time Marysville had been selected as the seat of a vicariate under San Francisco. If the 45-year-old O’Connell was able to find a map in Dublin that would show Marysville, he would have discovered it in Yuba County, and his territory covered all of Northern California and half of Nevada — sixteen counties in all.

His vast rural ministry was strenuous, and he approached it with great dedication and a sense of humor. But in 1868, only eight years after his ordination as bishop, he received another letter from Rome which was as puzzling to him as the first was shocking. He had been appointed first bishop of a new diocese covering his area with its episcopal seat in the small town of Grass Valley in Nevada County. Bishop O’Connell was only slightly more acquainted with Grass Valley than we are, and he did not like what he knew. He said it was more a rocky hill than a grassy valley. Furthermore, he felt it was a ridiculous name for a diocese. What was wrong with Marysville? It was, he felt, much more suitable as a diocesan seat and a more appropriate name for a diocese.

St. Patrick Church, Grass Valley, designated as the cathedral

O’Connell made his opinion known to Rome, but to no avail. So with a frontier mentality, he refused to take possession of St. Patrick Church in Grass Valley, designated as his cathedral, and instead established St. Joseph Church in Marysville as his pro-cathedral. The Diocese of Grass Valley, he said, was a “legal fiction.” He signed his correspondence — even to Rome — as “Bishop of Marysville,” where he continued to reside.

St. Joseph Pro-cathedral, Marysville

After nearly 25 years serving the people of his diocese, Bishop O’Connell retired in 1884 and was happy to serve out his remaining days as a simple chaplain to a house of religious women in Los Angeles.

The second bishop of Grass Valley was the witty Patrick Manogue, an Irish immigrant who came to the Mother Lode area to try his luck as a gold miner and later was ordained a priest. After only two years as bishop of Grass Valley, Bishop Manogue achieved what Bishop O’Connell had been unable to do; he had the seat of the diocese moved. Grass Valley became the new Diocese of Sacramento in 1886, and Manogue moved there to become its first bishop. Almost immediately he began work there on the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament.

The Diocese of Grass Valley existed for only 18 years, and is the only California diocese to be relegated to the status of a titular see (first and current holder is Christie Macaluso, auxiliary bishop of Hartford, Conn.). It has become largely a footnote in the story of how diocesan boundaries were frequently revised throughout the history of the Catholic Church in California to better serve the People of God. And Bishop O’Connell would no doubt feel Sacramento is a much more suitable name for the area he ministered to for so long.

Oldest cathedral church: The Cathedral of San Carlos Borromeo, Monterey, was founded as a mission church by Fr. Serra in 1770, and the present structure was completed in 1794. It became the pro-cathedral of the Diocese of Both Californias (then encompassing all of present-day California and Baja California) in 1840. It is the oldest cathedral church building in the United States, being completed three years before St. Augustine Cathedral in St. Augustine, Fla.

Newest cathedral: The Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, will be dedicated in September 2008.

Largest cathedral: The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, Los Angeles, is the 10th largest cathedral in the world and the largest Roman Catholic cathedral in the United States. It covers 65,000 square feet and is 333 feet in length (one foot longer than St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York).

Smallest cathedral: The Cathedral of San Carlos Borromeo, Monterey, is the smallest Roman Catholic cathedral in the continental United States.

First church built as a cathedral: The Cathedral of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception, San Francisco, (Old St. Mary’s) was built in 1854.

First Orthodox cathedral: Holy Trinity Cathedral (Orthodox Church in America), San Francisco, was founded as California’s first permanent Orthodox parish in 1864 and became the cathedral in 1870.

First Orthodox church built as a cathedral: The present Holy Trinity Cathedral (Orthodox Church in America), San Francisco, was constructed in 1909.

Oldest Episcopal cathedral church: Trinity Cathedral, San Jose, was constructed as a parish church in 1863.

First Episcopal church built as a cathedral: The second Grace Church in San Francisco, built in 1862, was unofficially known as “Grace Cathedral.” The new Grace Cathedral was established in 1910 as a successor to this church.

City with the most cathedrals: Los Angeles is home to nine cathedrals.

The chair of Southern California’s Roman Catholic bishops has moved around quite a bit.

When the Diocese of Both Californias (which included present-day California, Baja California, Nevada and Utah) was established in 1840, the Holy See directed that Mission San Diego de Alcalá be designated the cathedral. Upon arriving at his diocesan seat, however, California’s first bishop, Francisco García Diego y Moreno, was less than impressed with San Diego. He promptly moved to Santa Barbara and established Mission Santa Barbara as his pro-cathedral.

Mission San Diego in disrepair

In 1849, the area of the diocese was reduced and named the Diocese of Monterey. The Royal Presidio Chapel in Monterey became the pro-cathedral in 1851 until 1855, when the new bishop of the Diocese of Monterey-Los Angeles, Thaddeus Amat, once again moved the cathedra to Mission Santa Barbara. But he realized the growing prominence of Los Angeles. He had his eye on the city’s premier church, the Plaza Church of Our Lady of the Angels, built on the site of the city’s 1781 founding.

Mission Santa Barbara

(Amat was himself something of a wanderer, and no ecclesiastical careerist. A Vincentian, he was born in Barcelona, ordained a priest in Paris in 1837 and was assigned to teach at a seminary in New Orleans. Eventually he wound up rector of the diocesan seminary of Philadelphia, where he served as theologian to St. John Neumann, bishop of Philadelphia, at the Council of Baltimore. When he heard through the grapevine that he was to be named bishop of Monterey, Amat tried to avoid receiving the official notice. He fled to Madrid, then to Paris, and was planning passage to Chile when the dreaded official notice finally caught up with him. He tried to refuse the assignment, but the Holy See would not accept his refusal.)

The Plaza Church of Our Lady of the Angels, Los Angeles (La Placita)

In 1859, Amat’s request to transfer the cathedra to La Placita was approved, and the Plaza Church remained the pro-cathedral of the Diocese of Monterey-Los Angeles until the dedication of St. Vibiana Cathedral in 1876.

Additional biretta tips to Msgr. Francis Weber, archdiocesan archivist, for his book Century of Fulfillment: The Roman Catholic Church in Southern California 1840-1947.